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Tom and Jerry - TV Shows
Sometime between the classic 'Hanna Barbera' and the later 'Chuck Jones' cartoons, something strange happened. MGM decided to revive Tom & Jerry by giving it to a Czechoslovakian producer - Gene Deitch. The results were badly animated, and even worse-sounding cartoons which bizarely are still shown occasionally today. They might have been just about watchable if it wasn't for the weird noises and music played throughout - which made them sound like being in the middle of a nightmare. Tom & Jerry never recovered in my opinion, and even though the Chuck Jones shorts were much better than the Deitch ones, they couldn't touch the genius of the Hanna Barbera / Fred Quimby cartoons. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on October 22, 2009, 3:49 pm

Harry Potter - Movie Series
After the first four novels which were great, the following ones didn't really have strong storylines - instead focusing mainly on the impending finale between Harry and Voldemort. For this reason, although the books were long and complicated, the film makers probably struggled to adapt them to movies and keep the audience interested. Also(and this may not be a popular opinion), Daniel Radcliffe is not the greatest actor in the world - I think this became apparent in the second film when they were not little kids anymore. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on October 4, 2009, 4:04 pm

War of the Worlds (1989 Series) - TV Shows
There have been plenty of shows over the years ruined by changes to cast and producers - but War of the Worlds is possibly on top of the list. Good, scary stories interspersed with humour in the first season; dull & dark confusing rubbish in the second. The first episode of season 2 tied up some loose ends with the old cast and then moved off in a completely new direction with completely new rules. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on October 4, 2009, 3:41 pm

Space: 1999 - TV Shows
Space: 1999 series 1 was brilliant. The episodes were dark, sometimes menacing and many had a haunting / surreal soundtrack which ran throughout the show, giving each episode a unique feel. 'Dragons Domain' really freaked me out when I first saw it all those years ago, and I would definetely rate it as the most scary thing I ever saw on TV as a child. Unfortunately, it was completely revamped for the second series, bringing in new characters and getting rid of most of the existing ones. The new writer / producer was straight from the final season of STAR TREK (and it showed). An alien was introduced as a new member of Moonbase Alpha, and good sci-fi stories were replaced with episodes with monsters in rubber-suits. A great shame. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on October 4, 2009, 1:54 pm

Happy Days - TV Shows
It had to be when Richie & Ralph left,I can't believe it went on as long as it did afterwards. I really felt sorry for 'Potsie', because his character became completely redundant. He was practically reduced to walk-on parts (surely the writers could have used him better), he didn't even have his singing anymore as Joanie & Chachi seemed to do most of the singing later on. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on October 1, 2009, 2:18 pm

Carry On - Movie Series
Despite being critical disasters, the Carry-On films were brilliant and I can still watch them agagin and again today. I have lost count of the times I must have watched 'Carry-On Camping'. The last propper Carry-On film (in my opinion) was 'Carry-On Dick' in 1974. After that, Sid James died, Barbara Windsor and Hatti Jaques never appeared again, and Talbot Rothwell stopped writing the scripts. In the films that followed, a mix of ageing original cast members and unfunny newcomers struggled on with increasingly rude films. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 27, 2009, 2:07 pm

Police Academy - Movie Series
If they had only made the one film, it would have been remembered as a classic. Unfortunately, because of the sequels, the whole franchise is regarded as a joke. What were they thinking of? -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 27, 2009, 1:52 pm

Bread - TV Shows
Once you have seen one Carla Lane comedy, you have seen them all. Misery, Misery, Whingeing, whining and more misery. Who can forget Julie (from over the road) constantly whining "Billeee...Billeeeeee..". I actually enjoyed the show at first, but after the cast changes everything seemed to fall apart. Nellie Boswell's non-sexual affair with Derek was a direct copy of Ria and Leonards romance in Carla Lanes previous show 'Butterflies', and Joey and Roxie's painfully emotional on-off love affair was just annoying. A funny thing happened after I stopped watching 'Bread', I discovered I couldn't watch any Carla Lane programmes again! Even ones I enjoyed years ago (The Liver Birds / Butterflies etc.), I just kind of realised they were all as depressing as each other. Anyway, i HAD to stop watching 'Bread', because if I had heard 'SHE IS A TART' one more time, I would have kicked the TV screen in! -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 27, 2009, 1:45 pm

V (1984) - TV Shows
To be honest, I never really accepted that the 'Red Dust' was much of a threat to The Visitors. Surely if the 'good' Visitors could be immune to it simply by taking a antidote pill, the 'bad' Visitors could easily replicate the antidote for themselves! The original mini-series was good, the follow-on series wasn't too bad until halfway through, half the cast disapeared and production values obviously dropped. Ham Tyler, Chris Farber, Elias, Robin Maxwell and Nathan Bates all left, leaving behind a skeleton cast to carry on, with cheaper sets and occasionally shocking special effects and lizard-masks. Also, the make-up and costumes made the show look like Dynasty. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 26, 2009, 4:06 pm

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - TV Shows
Gil Gerard was apparently always in conflict with the writers and producers in season 1, and was not happy with his wise-cracking character, wanting more serious episodes. This ultimately led to script writers walking out and wholesale changes to the second season. I do actually think that the stories were a lot stronger in the second season, but the new characters let the show down badly. Hawk would constantly state the obvious in a slow grave voice as though to ram the point home (when everyone else had worked it out 5 minutes ago). As for the doddery old Dr. Goodfellow, well, words fail me as to how bad he was and the Admiral was an incompetent fool. As for Buck himself, his ever expanding waistline and out-of-control hair didn't do him any favours. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 26, 2009, 3:40 pm

Twin Peaks - TV Shows
Did Twin Peaks bone when the whole point of the show (who was the killer) was revealed early into the second season? I think so, but everybody else I know stopped watching it long before that moment as they had decided it was nonsense. I was even mocked by my friends for still watching it! I did start to lose interest when that whole 'White Lodge' stuff with the 'midget dancing backwards' and the 'giant' rubbish started. BUT I stayed until the bitter end and saw the show die a long painful death. Having said that, I thoroughly recommend watching the stunning first double-length episode. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 20, 2009, 1:59 pm

Red Dwarf - TV Shows
From seris 6 onwards (after losing 'Red Dwarf'), the show became just silly, with recurring catchphrases and monologues week after week. For example; The Cat constantly saying "Dead, dead, dead....Let's face it, we're deader than .........". Then we had increasingly unfunny remarks about the shape of Kryten's head. And who can forget the running gag about "An excelent suggesation sir, with just two minor drawbacks.........". After the excellent series 5 which had very strong storylines and the best ever episode (Back to reality), Series 6 was a huge disapointment and the show didn't show it's face again for another three years! Series 7 may have had it's critics, but at least it moved away from the predictable monotonous drearyness of series 6. -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 18, 2009, 6:11 pm

Lost - TV Shows
Nothing has captured my imagination more thean 'Lost', since the early episodes of 'Twin Peaks'. But unlike Twin Peaks, 'Lost' just keeps getting better! I thought they would run out of ideas shortly into the second season, but somehow it manages to change direction and stay fresh. With any luck, the final season will have plenty of scenes of Jack being tortured - he really got on my nerves during season 5. COME ON SAWYER, GIVE HIM ANOTHER KICKING! -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 18, 2009, 1:38 pm

Erasure - Music Groups
Erasure are at their best playing live, and they are still as good now as they were when they started, over 23 years ago. Okay, they have never been 'COOL', but they have never pretended to be. Commercially, they probably peaked with the CHORUS album and the ABBA EP - they never achieved the same heights again. But even though they are well out of the spotlight now, they continue to produce good albums and perform superb concerts. Did they bone with their self-titled concept album 'ERASURE'? Definetely not - JUST! -- Submitted By: (Phil.JS) on September 18, 2009, 1:26 pm