The following article contains spoilers.When we think of the best TV shows ever made, we normally always praise the character development and the story that made each show stand out. Whether it was a deep look at how being the smartest person in the world is more problematic than it seemed, or watching a gang of rich kids getting classically embarrassed by an anonymous blogger, each show that we hold near and dear has a quirk that makes it special, and unlike any others that have come before, or since.
However, there were times when the writers of one of these great shows got a little “too cute” with the plot, and it nearly derailed everything we loved about said show. Believe it or not, it’s happened more times than we can count, and for this piece, we’re going to break down the plot points that were so sus, that they very nearly tanked the entire reputation of the show in question. So, if you’re up for reading about some near-trainwrecks when it comes to show plots, grab some popcorn, and dive in.
10
Bobby’s death was revealed to be a dream
“Blast From the Past” – ‘Dallas’ (Season 9, Episode 1)
The cast of ‘Dallas’Image via CBS
It’s hard to describe just how big a deal Dallas was in the 1980s. It was more than a show; it was a cultural phenomenon that produced two of the decade’s biggest “what the world!” moments. The first, obviously, was “Who shot J.R.?” and the second was the death of Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) at the end of Season 8, which caught everyone by surprise. What also caught people by surprise was how the show ended, and not in a good way.
For those not in on the Dallas lore, in the Season 8 finale, Bobby gets hit by a car driven by Katherine Wentworth (Morgan Brittany). Watching the scene today, there was no way that Bobby would have survived that, and it caught viewers by surprise. Everyone loved Bobby Ewing, a central figure of the Ewing family was dead, or so we thought. Well, in the Season 9 premiere, the show writers thought they were pretty slick, and wanted to do a “fake out,” making us all “think” that Bobby was dead. But, nope, in the season premiere, he was alive and well, in the shower. How? He looked pretty dead when he took that car head-on. The way the writers explained this was that his death was a dream of his wife, Pam Ewing (Victoria Principal), which left fans with even more questions. Did she want her husband dead? It didn’t make any sense, and it tarnished the reputation of Dallas, just a little bit.
9
McNulty faked a serial killer
“-30-” – ‘The Wire’ (Season 5, Episode 10)
Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty looking down and thinking in The Wire.Image via HBO
HBO’s The Wire is one of the best dramas in the history of television. The show felt gritty, it felt real, and the writing was simply impeccable. Each plot tied into the overall arc of what the showrunners wanted to tell, which is how the war on drugs was impacting urban communities in America in the 2000s. Every season was television gold, but in Season 5, something strange happened; we got a suspect plot line.
The fifth season focused largely on the draconian budget cuts of the Baltimore Sun and how one of its reporters was fabricating stories. But a side plot for the season involved Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) concocting a scheme to get money to investigate Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector) by faking a serial killer that was going around killing the homeless in Baltimore. Now, certainly, one could see McNulty doing something like this, as it was his M.O. to “stick it to the bosses,” but the storyline felt shockingly lazy and unintentionally comedic, to the point that you couldn’t take it seriously. And, it didn’t even really succeed in putting Marlo in jail, as he was a free man at the end of the series.
8
Roseanne won the lottery
“Into That Good Night” – ‘Roseanne’ (Season 9, Episode 24)
John Goodman, Michael Fishman, and Roseanne Barr in Roseanne.Image via ABC
What made the rewatchable ABC sitcom Roseanne so enduring for the viewing public in the late-’80s and ‘90s was how unabashedly lower middle-class it was. Back in the day, family sitcoms normally portrayed white families as upper-middle-class, with a nice home in the suburbs. While the Conners did live in the suburbs, they lived in a working-class one, which resonated with the viewers who watched the sitcom week-after-week.
So, it was quite jarring that, in Season 9, Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) hit the lottery, to the tune of $108 million. Instantly, the Conners went from a lower-income family that everyone found relatable to one that flaunted wealth in the faces of the working public who enjoyed Roseanne. It was such a departure from the norm that it turned off a lot of people, and it was no wonder that the series came to an end after that season.
7
Joey and Rachel became a couple
“The One With Rachel’s Going Away Party” – ‘Friends’ (Season 10, Episode 16)
Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) from FriendsImage via NBC
Oh, yes, even a legendary sitcom such as Friends can have a plot point that could have easily derailed it. Honestly, the first season of Friends could have easily derailed it before the show got a chance to become the legendary sitcom that we all know and love. But that wasn’t the only time that the show could have gone off the rails.
Let’s flash back to Seasons 9 and 10, when the writers wanted fans to really root for a romance between Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston). All everyone could ask was why? Nothing against Joey and Rachel, but no one could see those two together. It was always going to be Rachel and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer). That was the endgame. It was always the endgame. Fans were so happy when the writers dumped that storyline.
6
Landry killed a man
“Get Up, Stand Up” – ‘Friday Night Lights’ (Season 2, Episode 7)
Kyle Chandler as Coach Taylor with players on the sideline at a football game on Friday Night Lights.Image via NBC
There was something earnest, something grounded with NBC’s Friday Night Lights. It was a unique sports drama, one that told the story of a high school team in small-town Texas. Friday Night Lights was incredibly simple in its storytelling, rarely straying from the path of telling a football story, with all the drama that goes along with it.
But in Season 2, we got a plotline that strayed very far off that grounded, simple premise. Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons) killed a rapist and threw his body in a river. Now, it wouldn’t be totally off course if Friday Night Lights took a more dramatic turn in its storytelling off the football field; but in a show that focused most of its energy on football, and how it affected the players, coaches and families, the “Landry killed a rapist” storyline was off-putting, and briefly took the show in a direction it shouldn’t have gone in.
5
A magical rock stopped the Upside Down
“The Right Side Up” – ‘Stranger Things’ (Season 5, Episode 8)
The kids sitting at school desks look back in a classroom in the MADMAX episode of Stranger Things.Image via Netflix
Now that Stranger Things has come to an end, we can go back in and pick out the plot holes that we felt could have killed the momentum of the series. We could go with the plot armor gifted from the plot gods in Season 5, or episode 7 of Season 2, where we meet the “Lost Sister,” and the episode steered away from the dark tone of the series, all in the name of a failed backdoor pilot.
But none of Stranger Things’ multiple suspect plotlines can match up to the Magical Rock that we witnessed in the finale. Throughout the entire series, we always assumed that the Upside Down was the big bad, but in the finale, we were introduced to a totally random rock that we had never seen or heard of before the finale. It felt totally out-of-place, and it only served to leave us with more questions than answers when it came to the finale.
4
Chuck traded Blair for a hotel
“The Unblairable Lightness of Being” – ‘Gossip Girl’ (Season 3, Episode 1)
Blake Lively and Sebastian Stan as Serena and Carter wearing a black dress and grey suit in ‘Gossip Girl.’Image via CBS Television Studios
We all have a soft spot when it comes to Gossip Girl. Even if you are a casual fan, you have a few episodes that you can’t get out of your head. This series had a stranglehold on millennials during its run, mainly because we loved seeing rich kids completely getting embarrassed by a blogger who went by the name “Gossip Girl.”
But as much as we loved this teen drama, one simply can’t ignore the numerous times the plot could have derailed the series, especially in Season 3, when Charles “Chuck” Bass (Ed Westwick) traded Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) for a hotel. Yes, you read that correctly. Blair, one of the most iconic queen bees in television history, was traded for ownership of his hotel. It was incredibly misogynistic and was extremely dark for a storyline that didn’t need to be. It was one of the last straws of Chuck and Blair’s doomed romance, and we were all too done with this when this bizarre trade occurred.
3
Romano survived multiple helicopter crashes
“All in the Family” – ‘ER’ (Season 6, Episode 14)
ER TV show, medical dramaImage via NBC
There shouldn’t be a debate that ER changed the game when it came to medical dramas. During its 15-season run, we were treated to heart-pounding moments that made us rethink what an ER room can be. The chaos, the injuries, the drama, ER had everything and then some, including suspect plot points.
One of the main complaints about ER’s storyline that everyone criticized involved Dr. Robert Romano (Paul McCrane) and how he would always find himself in helicopter accidents. For a doctor who needed to get to an emergency by air, his helicopter would always find a way to have an accident, and, surprisingly, he would always survive. Talk about the plot gods protecting you at all costs. In a series about life-or-death situations, Dr. Romano’s weird helicopter accidents just seemed absurd and out of left field.
2
Jim and Pam had marriage problems
“Customer Loyalty” – ‘The Office’ (Season 9, Episode 12)
Steve Carell as Michael Scott in The OfficeImage via NBC
Throughout the legendary NBC sitcom The Office, the only thing that seemed normal in this absurd work world was the romance between Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer). The growth of their relationship is one of the best slow-burn romances in television history. We were all completely invested in the romance between Jim and Pam, and it seemed natural that they would get married.
With how much time the show’s writers spent investing in the relationship between Jim and Pam, it seemed quite forced when they were suddenly thrust into marriage problems in Season 9. Pam was happy with her life in Scranton, but Jim wanted something different and wanted to leave the town, which caused an issue between the two. It really seemed like a non-issue that was blown up just for the sake of having conflict between the two, which was completely unnecessary. It nearly threw off the entire show, and, thankfully, the finale rectified this near-damaging plotline.
1
The mother died (and Ted ends up with Robin)
“Last Forever” – ‘How I Met Your Mother’ (Season 9, Episodes 23–24)
Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby and Cristina Milioti as Tracy McConnell in the finale of ‘How I Met Your Mother.’Image via CBS
We have reached the finale, the one suspect plotline that could have ruined the legacy of an entire series, the one that everyone talks about to this very day. We’re talking, of course, about the series finale of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. While it’s still considered one of the best modern-day sitcoms, the ending left a lot of people wondering how the show writers could have fumbled the ball this badly.
So, if you’re one of the three people who don’t know about the series finale, in the end, we finally meet the mother of Ted Mosby’s children, Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti). And while the reveal was pretty solid, fans were all shocked when, after they finally met her, the show killed her. It was so sudden and so shocking that it was a plotline that was suspect from the moment we saw it. Making matters worse, the finale then circles back to Ted ending up with Robin, undoing years of character growth and rendering the entire nine-season build-up feel pointless to many fans.