For me the show lost something when Larry David left.

/agree

agree with x-files.

should have wrapped up at least a season sooner, if not more

it was sad to see such greatness, reduced to those final two episodes.

it was handled in such a casual, rushed way...

for my money the Season Five finale was a good ending.

*edit*, yeah seinfeld too. the last season, to me, was horrrrible. a shadow of its former funny.

Another one is Frasier. The last season was good but seasons 8-10 were below average. Seems everything went down once Niles and Daphne got together and the battles with their exes became a focal point for the episodes.

Pretty much every show lasts too long. The better question is which TV shows didn't last too long.

True.

There aren't many, but I'd say THE PRISONER, NICKELODEON's ROUNDHOUSE, WIZARDS AND WARRIORS, and JOHN DOE.

That's true. Same goes for NYPD: Blue. The final season was one of the best, but the 2-3 leading up to it were some of the worst.

Angel (had another season in it and should have gotten it)
Quantum Leap (ditto)
Arrested Development
Freaks and Geeks

I couldn't believe "According To Jim" lasted longer than the pilot episode.

ER and The X-Files.

Mad About You

Never really watched the show too much, but in the few episodes I caught per season you could tell how completely depressing the later episodes became to where it wasn't remotely funny, just sad and irritating.

Remains to be seen, but I am starting to believe 24 already qualifies since this season made me just stop watching it completely around hour 17 or so.

Homicide- Without Andre Braugher and Melissa Leo and all of those horrible new characters, the show just dissolved.

ER- It's over--yet they keep reviving it.

Moonlighting- If any show only needed four seasons maybe three and a half...

Frasier- It was nearly a drama during those unfunny later years

Roseanne- Last season awful, last show Dan's dead. Can it get any worse?

Beverly Hills 90210- Pretty much should have ended a few years after Brian Austin Green had facial hair.

The George Lopez Show- Although According to Jim makes this look like Cheers, three seasons is all this ever deserved.

Personally, I liked the later seasons better.

Obviously, The Simpsons. However, the finales gave me a glimmer of hope that they might get some of the form back.

Agreed and I'll add:

Ben Stiller Show

If we could forget the last season of Deadwood happened, then I would say Deadwood

The American Idol results show.

Yep. I loved that show but damned if they didn't run out of ideas. Another show in a long line where a baby was totally unnecessary. Not to mention the unneeded affair as well.

Barney.

Not that I watch it, but I see clips of it on Jimmy Kimmel when they have their Unnecessary Censorship and every time I wonder how the hell is Barney still the f' on?

As do I. Pre-teen Kelly and Bud weren't as funny as when they got older. Marcy went from annoying to funny when she got with Jefferson.

Although the new gay looking dog and that annoying kid killed it.

I don't remember it vividly since I was 11 or 12 when it started (I watched TV but never followed shows at that age) but yeah, the baby really but an end to the show. Hell, even the finale which I do remember was depressing even though they ended up back together when they were old.

The Simpsons

Honorable mentions go to:

Friends
ER
The Simpsons

I have the dvd sets and those episodes are only a small handful at the beginning of the 8th season. The war of the exes is hardly played out through the season.

They were off a little but hey, when one of the creators is blown up in 9/11 I would imagine it would be a little hard to be funny. Also, Jane Leeves' pregnancy really but a halt to what could have been a really good season as well. I hated the "Daphne gets fat" storyline so much, up until the episode where she falls on her ass and Martin thinks she killed Eddie. That had me laughing so hard.

Count me in for Friends as well. They should've ended it after the 7th season or whatever time Monica and Chandler got together. It got to be so incredibly tedious towards the end.

Will And Grace

This should have ended when the original creators left after the 4th season. It got to be too much too soon. All it had left were bad storylines and cheap cameos by famous people. There's a reason they nicknamed it the new Love Boat.

I believe it could have gone on longer, which is what Chris Carter intended with the two new agents. Seeing it like that I had no problem continuing with the show. Essentially the season 7 ender was the series finale for those who only saw it for Mulder and Scully but they got picked up by FOX for the next season. With no David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson's contract expiring in two season's worth, he decided to bring in Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish.

The only thing I didn't like of the last 2 seasons were how dark they were compared to the rest.

Heroes
Friday Night Lights
Studo 60 on the Sunset Strip
The Nine
Day Break

Just kiddin.'

While I agree that Season's 8 & 9 were dark, I think seasons 1-5 were also dark. Once they moved to LA, the shows became less "dark", in one sense due to the lighting and atmosphere of the location, but obviously just the content of the episodes. Season 6 was probably the lightest season of the series, but I don't agree that Season's 8 & 9 were darker than the rest of the entire series.