The trial of the infamous fourth season

[Willie Oleson]

No, this is not the title of a netflix crime-documentary about a member of Frankie Valli's band, and it's also not the title of a critically acclaimed album by Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell.

It's about that point in the story of the recurring TV series, especially the ones that weren't designed to end in this-or-that particular way at this-or-that particular time.
I may be wrong but I think I've discovered a pattern that - at least for several series - is based on the inbuilt nature of the trilogy narrative a.k.a. The A (beginning), B (middle) and C (end).
Perhaps this also applies to the movie franchise series. Off the top of my head: THE OMEN 1 - 3 vs, THE OMEN 4, and 1990s BATMAN 1 - 3 vs. BATMAN 4.

But back to the tv series. I loved the first three seasons of DOWNTON ABBEY and THE WALKING DEAD, and I bailed out during their respective fourth season.
As much as I adore TWIN PEAKS, a fourth season should never-ever happen since it could never complement the brilliance of the 3-part installment (well, actually 4 if you'd include FIRE WALK WITH ME and maybe 5 if you'd include the brilliant deleted scenes).
The series final scene represent the story's beginning, middle and end which means that they've done the impossible by capturing the abstract nature of time on screen.
The linear version of "time" is only relevant to whom it concerns (e.g. the people on McEarth) but since the past, present and future have always existed and will forever continue to exist there is no proof that our earthy version of "time" is the definitive version.
But, enfin.

Looking at more familiar subjects - the big eighties prime time soaps - there is definitely something going during their respective fourth season.
As I mentioned in another thread on the DYNASTY forum, The Blake/Alexis/Adam trilogy couldn't be more obvious if they tried - which is why season 3 shoulda ended with season 9's jaw-dropping cliffhanger. Blake's karma for killing Ted Dinard, Alexis' literal downfall after her wicked rise to power, and Adam destroying his dynasty birthright.
For the most part, the look of Dynasty's season 4 is similar to the previous two seasons - it had not entered the hardcore eighties yet - but it's becoming inceasingly difficult to understand the show's raison d'être.
Various sub-plots and new characters pop up right, left and centre which in itself is not a problem, but it doesn't become a grand scheme of things thing.

The same thing happened in FALCON CREST's fourth season. It's still very enjoyable and of course soap operas - or maybe any genre show - is much more than its sum total.
How much I enjoy what actually happens in one particular episode or one particular scene is just as important as the show's story-feel.
Nevertheless, Julia's return from the dead, an out of the blue nazi treasure and more characters arriving to get a piece of the Falcon pie adds to the feeling that it continues because it can.
Which is very much what soap operas do, but that doesn't mean there's no longer a need for momentum.
And for whatever reason this often gets lost in that fourth season, and based on the trilogy theory it is especially the fourth part that needs to "prove" itself and show us why it didn't stop.

KNOTS LANDING had the luxury of beginning their traditional soap style in season 4, but that also meant it faced the challenge of maintaining its cul-de-sac atmosphere. It just so happened that this coincided with the death of DALLAS patriarch Jock Ewing which allowed the Knots characters to expand their universe.
Who knows what it would have been like if Jim Davis hadn't died.

The DALLAS hype of Who Shot JR? (in case we consider that the season 3 cliffhanger) was also a curse in disguise since it would be absolutely impossible to live up to that hype, and from an Early Dallas point of view the assassination of JR Ewing was the perfect ending. But it didn't end, and in a way it just started all over again - albeit very successfully.

Any other examples of the Fourth Season Syndrome?

 

[Toni]

No, this is not the title of a netflix crime-documentary about a member of Frankie Valli's band, and it's also not the title of a critically acclaimed album by Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell.

It's about that point in the story of the recurring TV series, especially the ones that weren't designed to end in this-or-that particular way at this-or-that particular time.
I may be wrong but I think I've discovered a pattern that - at least for several series - is based on the inbuilt nature of the trilogy narrative a.k.a. The A (beginning), B (middle) and C (end).
Perhaps this also applies to the movie franchise series. Off the top of my head: THE OMEN 1 - 3 vs, THE OMEN 4, and 1990s BATMAN 1 - 3 vs. BATMAN 4.

But back to the tv series. I loved the first three seasons of DOWNTON ABBEY and THE WALKING DEAD, and I bailed out during their respective fourth season.
As much as I adore TWIN PEAKS, a fourth season should never-ever happen since it could never complement the brilliance of the 3-part installment (well, actually 4 if you'd include FIRE WALK WITH ME and maybe 5 if you'd include the brilliant deleted scenes).
The series final scene represent the story's beginning, middle and end which means that they've done the impossible by capturing the abstract nature of time on screen.
The linear version of "time" is only relevant to whom it concerns (e.g. the people on McEarth) but since the past, present and future have always existed and will forever continue to exist there is no proof that our earthy version of "time" is the definitive version.
But, enfin.

Looking at more familiar subjects - the big eighties prime time soaps - there is definitely something going during their respective fourth season.
As I mentioned in another thread on the DYNASTY forum, The Blake/Alexis/Adam trilogy couldn't be more obvious if they tried - which is why season 3 shoulda ended with season 9's jaw-dropping cliffhanger. Blake's karma for killing Ted Dinard, Alexis' literal downfall after her wicked rise to power, and Adam destroying his dynasty birthright.
For the most part, the look of Dynasty's season 4 is similar to the previous two seasons - it had not entered the hardcore eighties yet - but it's becoming inceasingly difficult to understand the show's raison d'être.
Various sub-plots and new characters pop up right, left and centre which in itself is not a problem, but it doesn't become a grand scheme of things thing.

The same thing happened in FALCON CREST's fourth season. It's still very enjoyable and of course soap operas - or maybe any genre show - is much more than its sum total.
How much I enjoy what actually happens in one particular episode or one particular scene is just as important as the show's story-feel.
Nevertheless, Julia's return from the dead, an out of the blue nazi treasure and more characters arriving to get a piece of the Falcon pie adds to the feeling that it continues because it can.
Which is very much what soap operas do, but that doesn't mean there's no longer a need for momentum.
And for whatever reason this often gets lost in that fourth season, and based on the trilogy theory it is especially the fourth part that needs to "prove" itself and show us why it didn't stop.

KNOTS LANDING had the luxury of beginning their traditional soap style in season 4, but that also meant it faced the challenge of maintaining its cul-de-sac atmosphere. It just so happened that this coincided with the death of DALLAS patriarch Jock Ewing which allowed the Knots characters to expand their universe.
Who knows what it would have been like if Jim Davis hadn't died.

The DALLAS hype of Who Shot JR? (in case we consider that the season 3 cliffhanger) was also a curse in disguise since it would be absolutely impossible to live up to that hype, and from an Early Dallas point of view the assassination of JR Ewing was the perfect ending. But it didn't end, and in a way it just started all over again - albeit very successfully.

Any other examples of the Fourth Season Syndrome?

I kinda agree with your theory. Using the original "Dallas" season numbering, the fourth year was astoundingly bad in every aspect since the first time I watched it. Yes, I did love the battle(s) for Ewing Oil, but everything else was daytime stuff: from the depressions of the Barnes siblings to Swellin living on her own at that awful townhouse (without a bedroom!!) to the umpteenth version of JR setting Cliff up. The Southern Cross became a joke after awhile (especially among the "Dallas" fans, because, well, that house looked a bit "Andalusian", so to say...) and Mitch was just a nice ornament they showed us once in awhile. And, when it´s Afton the character who stirs up the plots, we know that something is really really wrong... Luckily for all of us, Season 5 meant a rebirth for the show and the cast gave some of their best moments ever. But Season 4 was soooo lame... Of course, they turned the show into BBG Show, which saved the series IMHO.

"Hello, my name is Clayton Farlow and I´ll marry you within 2 years."
​

Things were different in "Knots", as usual, since Season 4 was the first one truly memorable, with Abby wheeling and dealing behind Gary´s back and Gary and Val´s marriage slowly vanishing as a bad memory. Karen and Mack´s courtship was also fun to watch, though a bit more forced on us. Also the Avery´s very last attempt at reconciling was highly watchable, with both actors excelling as usual. So the "trial" (I´d say "curse") of the 4th year didn´t work for them.

"Pronto, someone woo away this little bird who tries to take my wig off!!"​

About "Falcon Crest", the first half is a bit lame too. It leans on the guest stars too much (from Gina to the Dick Dastardly-villain played by Paul Freeman), and the nazi storyline was abhorrent (yes, I know you and you like it, but I thought that the introduction of the Rossinis was a great idea and turned the show into the (less gothic but more fun and glamorous) show that seduced the whole world. So thanks to the change at half-season the show kind of avoided that 4th year curse.

Up to Season 4, I could watch and somehow enjoy "Dynasty" with all its (many) faults and "delicious" performances. But that year presented a few useless characters that did nothing to advance the plot. The Tracy beech was fun at first, but she should have interacted more often with the "Big Beech" (you know who). Mark didn´t deserve to stay for another year (he wasn´t even shown half-naked at the pool, was he?), Kirby became a shadow of what she might have been initially (those trembling swollen hands...), and last but not least, Blake´s homophobia was rampant again. I won´t even mention the Da Vulva Man. So I´d say they did suffered the curse of the 4th year (and, in a way, the curse of every year from then on for a number of reasons). Luck we had Rita... for a laugh.

"But I said, make me a new nose à la Alexis Colby.
So I messed it all up? I chose the wrong beech?"​

I think the same thing about other more recent shows like "The Affair", whose 4th season was painful to watch. However, I just watched Season 4 of "Empire" and had a great time with it. Save for the eerie presence of Demi Moore and her daughter from Outer Space...

Which Rumer rumor prefer, that she is actually an alien or that she is a robot?​

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Any other examples of the Fourth Season Syndrome?

I wonder if Alison Carr, the ersatz Patricia Hamilton, could be the very embodiment of this phenomenon:

 

[Daniel Avery]

KNOTS LANDING had the luxury of beginning their traditional soap style in season 4, but that also meant it faced the challenge of maintaining its cul-de-sac atmosphere. It just so happened that this coincided with the death of DALLAS patriarch Jock Ewing which allowed the Knots characters to expand their universe.
Who knows what it would have been like if Jim Davis hadn't died.

S5E01 of Knots Landing was titled "The People Vs. Gary Ewing". KL was so well-mannered that they felt the need to be fashionably late to the party.

 

[Willie Oleson]

"The Affair", whose 4th season was painful to watch

I don't remember that, what was it that you disliked?

I wonder if Alison Carr, the ersatz Patricia Hamilton, could be the very embodiment of this phenomenon

A bizarre and rather unique situation that, at the very least, suggested a raison d'être. I love that season for its insane cliffhang-o-rama and the wonderfully frustrating Baby Robert saga, but the less successful parts become more noticeable than in the first three Golden Years.
Therefore I agree that it rode on the coat-tails of its former glory the way it happened in Dynasty and Falcon Crest.

And perhaps even TNT DALLAS had told and shown everything that needed to be told. I wish it had continued just because I loved it but I'd be hard-pressed to give a specific reason why it had to continue.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't about series that should have ended - thank God they didn't - it's just that there's something pivotal about the # 4, maybe it's the part that aims or should aim for the viewer's eternal commitment?

 

[Toni]

I don't remember that, what was it that you disliked?

A bizarre and rather unique situation that, at the very least, suggested a raison d'être. I love that season for its insane cliffhang-o-rama and the wonderfully frustrating Baby Robert saga, but the less successful parts become more noticeable than in the first three Golden Years.
Therefore I agree that it rode on the coat-tails of its former glory the way it happened in Dynasty and Falcon Crest.

And perhaps even TNT DALLAS had told and shown everything that needed to be told. I wish it had continued just because I loved it but I'd be hard-pressed to give a specific reason why it had to continue.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't about series that should have ended - thank God they didn't - it's just that there's something pivotal about the # 4, maybe it's the part that aims or should aim for the viewer's eternal commitment?

Well, the absence of Ruth Wilson of all things? Anyway, I checked out the plots and I truly despised what happened the previous season (all about Irène Jacob´s character, and how he treated Alison). I was actually feeling that supposed "producer´s revenge" (à la Katzman versus Victoria and Linda, who suddenly were a runaway mother and just a replacement for Vanessa Beaumont!) and upon what I read it was sort of true: Wilson got tired of the sex scenes and happened to overhear some comments about them from the producers. She felt exploited as a woman and her character began doing odd things... And then, you know, the ending... But Maura Tierney and the oh-so-hot Dominic West made the remaining seasons watchable, especially that amazing last scene.

 

[Emelee]

Sometimes the quality drops long before the 4th season. Revenge, you're the perfect example.

When it comes to Dallas, I think the 4th season was still good. For me, it started going downhill with season 7/8. I could not even bother buying the last 3 seasons on dvd when they were next to free.

Grey's Anatomy is a series that should have ended after the 3rd season. It was brilliant in the beginning. After season 4, it became repetative. The characters started getting annoying and whiney. And all were like versions of the same character, even having very similar way of speaking.

A brilliant series like Frasier should have ended a few seasons before it did. Maybe not already after 3 seasons as it was still brilliant. But surely after the 8th season.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I tend to find the third year is what bodes well or ill for a show.

As others have observed before, if a show runs ong enough, Season 5 & 6 tend to be the peak, S7 &S8 tends to be the slide, and S9 tendsto be a renaissance creatively.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Season 5 & 6 tend to be the peak

Of what? Ratings or quality?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Of what? Ratings or quality?

Creativity. Quality.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Oh, I thought we were talking about actual trials. Never mind, I'm just having a senior moment.

 

[Seaviewer]

Get Smart, which had been a semi-realistic spy spoof for its first three seasons, transformed into a domestic sitcom with the engagement and marriage of its two leads in the fourth,

 

[Brian Kinney]

I was actually feeling that supposed "producer´s revenge" (à la Katzman versus Victoria and Linda, who suddenly were a runaway mother and just a replacement for Vanessa Beaumont!) and upon what I read it was sort of true: Wilson got tired of the sex scenes and happened to overhear some comments about them from the producers. She felt exploited as a woman and her character began doing odd things... And then, you know, the ending...

At that point I thought you meant Sheree J. Wilson. Could have been her too.

Never mind, I'm just having a senior moment.

Maybe me too.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Could the 'fourth-year plague' be a consequence of the three-year contracts that are often signed by the creatives (in front and behind the camera) when a show is developed? When they enter the fourth season, they've had to re-negotiate many deals (raises, perks) and perhaps had to replace some key people who did not stick around.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I tend to find the third year is what bodes well or ill for a show.

As others have observed before, if a show runs ong enough, Season 5 & 6 tend to be the peak, S7 &S8 tends to be the slide, and S9 tendsto be a renaissance creatively.

Could the 'fourth-year plague' be a consequence of the three-year contracts that are often signed by the creatives (in front and behind the camera) when a show is developed? When they enter the fourth season, they've had to re-negotiate many deals (raises, perks) and perhaps had to replace some key people who did not stick around.

The fourth year syndrome seems to result from activities -- or mistakes -- that are permitted to happen unencumbered during the third year.

I think.

We should all remember that all the waters of all the oceans in the world completely circulate the planet in ~4.33 years. And the light from the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, takes ~4.33 years to reach the earth.

I mean, that's got to be important!

 

[Seaviewer]

I'm on to the fourth and final season of Dobie Gillis now.
Dwayne Hickman seems to have lost interest in the show. He still does the linking narration in front of the Thinker statue but in some of the episodes he's all but absent, with Dobie replaced by his cousin Duncan - Dunkie for short - a high school kid with all of Dobie's girl-chasing predilections but only a fraction of the charm who Maynard seems too old to be hanging out with, despite Maynard's childlike nature.

 

[TaranofPrydain]

Another show with the fourth year curse: Scarecrow and Mrs King, which had a pretty dark final season that was hamstrung even more by Kate Jackson's real life cancer scare which got her wiped out of most of the last few episodes.

And Moonlighting 's fourth was the one where Cybill had her pregnancy resulting in an uneven season that is still better than its reputation

 

[AndyB2008]

Get Smart, which had been a semi-realistic spy spoof for its first three seasons, transformed into a domestic sitcom with the engagement and marriage of its two leads in the fourth,

The final season (the 4th!) of Lois and Clark (which wasn't a strong rater from the start for ABC and they nearly cancelled it, hence all the meddling from Season 2, which saw John Shea dropped as a regular) had Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain's characters married.

This was also the season where it was moved from against Murder She Wrote to having to face 60 Minutes instead, and collapsed against it. Later the remaining episodes had to compete with Dr Quinn on Saturday nights.

 

[AndyB2008]

Another show with the fourth year curse: Scarecrow and Mrs King, which had a pretty dark final season that was hamstrung even more by Kate Jackson's real life cancer scare which got her wiped out of most of the last few episodes.

And Moonlighting 's fourth was the one where Cybill had her pregnancy resulting in an uneven season that is still better than its reputation

Ref Moonlighting, Bruce Willis was also filming Die Hard, which of course became a hit.

Glenn Gordon Caron also left as executive producer\showrunner in the 4th season after a fallout with Cybill Shepherd (what a surprise -not). Then again, that show had production issues from the start.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Ref Moonlighting, Bruce Willis was also filming Die Hard, which of course became a hit.

Glenn Gordon Caron also left as executive producer\showrunner in the 4th season after a fallout with Cybill Shepherd (what a surprise -not). Then again, that show had production issues from the start.

Yes, she got Caron fired. As a result, the last season was regressively stupid.

Willis said of Cybill, "I just don't have anything good to say about her."

She once admitted in an interview that she had anger issues, and that MOONLIGHTING had started out being about an impossibly unsympathetic male lead, and soon shifted into being about an impossibly unsympathetic female lead. (Which wasn't untrue).

I wonder how she explained the Christine Baranski situation...

Cybill seems to be playing herself in her various shows, but that's what she doesn't seem to like.