They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day. The same could be said for great television.
Even the best TV shows need some time to find their footing. Thankfully, they stuck with it and overcame initial struggles to become must-see TV.
Parks and Recreation
The first season of Parks and Recreation tried a little too hard to be like another popular NBC sitcom: The Office.
It would eventually embrace its own identity and see massive success. Plus, moving on from the charisma vacuum that was Mark Brandanowicz as a character and bringing in Adam Scott and Rob Lowe was a great decision.
The Office
Now that you mention it, The Office also got off to a rough start.
Yes, the employees of Dundler Mifflin are a little, how should I say, eccentric, but the first season is just a little too rough and awkward to watch.
Seinfeld
Speaking of awkward and rough, that’s a perfect description of Seinfeld‘s first season, which leaned a little too hard into the “show about nothing” moniker.
By the time we got into the second season, the show’s strength began to shine as it leaned a little more into something that resembled an actual story. It’s still very much a show about nothing, but there’s something now actually driving each episode forward.
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Cheers
Eventually, everyone would show up to the bar where everybody knows your name, but it took a while to get there.
The first season of Cheers was a ratings dud, but summer reruns helped it find an audience.
Fraiser
It feels right that the same can be said about the Cheers spin-off, Frasier.
The show took its time in developing its own identity, embracing intelligence over being a, well, spin-off of Cheers. It’s a good thing, too, because Fraiser stands on its own as an all-time great sitcom.
Veep
In all honesty, the jokes come fast and furious at breakneck speed from the very beginning of Veep.
Still, the whole ensemble cast wasn’t put together quite yet. Once Gary Cole joined the show in season two, it was all systems go.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The intelligence of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was present from day one, but it’s a little rough around the edges.
Also, like Veep, something was missing: Danny DeVito, who joined the cast in season two.
Schitt’s Creek
I’ll never forget watching how quickly Schitt’s Creek rose to popularity in the late 2010s, with people often proclaiming it the best modern sitcom on television.
That wasn’t the case with its first season, though, the only one to have a rating below 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It wasn’t a good one, either: 68%!
The Drew Carey Show
During its peak, The Drew Carey Show was a breath of fresh air on 1990s television.
Its writing was incredibly clever, but there were so many unique and fresh ideas that helped launch Carey to super stardom, including live episodes with the cast of Whose Line is it Anyway?
Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Next Generation may be one of the most iconic Star Trek series, but it didn’t start that way.
There were a lot of struggles from the writer’s room, particularly due to the presence of Gene Roddenberry, of all people, but when his influence waned, the show began to thrive.
Everybody Loves Raymond
Part of me wonders if the writers were too scared to go all-in on the dysfunctional Italian family trope because viewers would deem it to be unbelievable.
As someone who is half Italian, I can tell you that it is indeed believable, and once the show dove more into the family conflicts, albeit for comedic effect, it worked exceptionally well.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The first season of Buffy isn’t so much bad as it falls into the trap of “monster of the week” type episodes.
It would later move beyond this, helping it become one of the most iconic shows from the ’90s.
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