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So I'm rewatching the show for the first time in order from beginning to end and am currently at the beginning of S8 dvd set. Is there a consensus view on the board here regarding which season was the one during which the show went into permanent decline?
I regard "Nine Dragons", the S9 opener as the pinnacle of the show and afterwards it's a slow escalator ride down. You couldn't top that story for Wo Fat (which is why he wasn't seen again until the last episode). It was the swan song basically for two of the most important contributors to the show's peak years, Jerome Coopersmith and Michael O'Herlihy. Most of the show's supporting group of regulars (Che Fong, John Manicote, Doc Bergman) were phased out. It could be entertaining still but it was on the downside.
I'm kinda close to epaddon on this one, but a little more critical.
I felt the show was excellent for the first 7 seasons (albeit with some stinkers and mediocre episodes here and there). In fact, seasons 6 and 7 were my favorite, as they had some of my favorite individual episodes.
To me, a slow decline began in season 8. Season 9 was worse than 8, but still overall good.
Season 10 was the noticeably worse than 9, and 11 was MUCH worse than 10.
Then there was the abomination known as Season 12, which honestly shouldn't have existed at all.
My ratings page is not accurate at the moment for the old show, since I am busy re-viewing episodes, but going back to January 2016 (see http://fiveohomepage.com/ratings/Fiv...atings-old.htm) these were my ratings in order from best to worst:
3.27 – Season 1
3.25 – Season 3
3.04 – Season 6
3.02 – Season 5
2.94 – Season 2
2.90 – Season 7
2.90 – Season 4
2.87 – Season 9
2.87 – Season 8
2.33 – Season 11
2.27 – Season 10
1.34 – Season 12
I just did a ratings recalculation of all seasons, but there are still 80 shows I haven't re-viewed and their ratings have not been adjusted yet, which would affect overall totals and averages. Seasons 1-4 are complete, however.
http://fiveohomepage.com/ratings/Fiv...ept%202010.htm
You will note seasons 1-9 have almost no difference in the quality. There is still a big drop at season 10 and another drop at season 12.
In doing these calculations:
- Season 1 includes the pilot episode
- The results for seasons with 2-part shows are adjusted so those shows only have one rating, not two. There is an exception to this, The 90-Second War, which has a separate rating for each part.
- Shows which were previously rated 0.5 have been adjusted to 1.0; there is no point in making a show worse than "worst," other than "BOMB."
Season 01 - 2.89
Season 02 - 2.79
Season 03 - 2.98
Season 04 - 2.79
Season 05 - 2.96
Season 06 - 2.98
Season 07 - 2.92
Season 08 - 2.91
Season 09 - 3.02
Season 10 - 2.19
Season 11 - 2.14
Season 12 - 1.50
I agree with what Todd said even though Season 9 is my favorite overall.
The decline was certainly evident between 9 and 10, then especially to Season 11.
There are only about 3 episodes I want to rewatch from Season 12.
That's interesting that you say S9 was your favorite overall, then Mike reinforces that with his latest version of his rating system that currently has it highest overall by a smidge. I know S10-12 have always been very lightly regarded (and I agree with Todd that S12 is an abomination but I bought it anyway for the sake of being completist!) but would never have guessed that the season immediately preceding the start of that run was so highly rated. I'll have to take another look at the episode list to see how many personal favorites are in there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobbi
Thanks to everyone for their comments.
Thanks for running the numbers again. Your conclusions mesh with my own informal personal assessment that seasons 1 through 9 have similar numbers of highs and lows episodes that average out to be about the same overall rating. I'm only on S8 right now of this current run of forcing myself to watch every episode in order, but I would be hard pressed to name a favorite season so far. For me, there are favorite show categories more than favorite seasons. I love the heist shows most, followed closely by the psycho episodes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Mike
The psycho episodes are definitely the best!! :) Nobody did those like Five-O did. Usually you had more than one of those per season!!! But of course the heist episodes were fun too - everything from Ten Thousand Diamonds and a Heart to The Flip Side is Death. And how about the Filer episodes? Weren’t they heist episodes too?
I think my favorite episode of the entire show's run is the one with the psycho mailman who bugs the psychiatrist's life.Quote:
Originally Posted by ringfire211
“The Listener” is definitely a great one but “I’ll Kill ‘Em Again” and “Draw Me a Killer” are my 2 favorite psycho episodes.Quote:
Originally Posted by haoledwI think my favorite episode of the entire show's run is the one with the psycho mailman who bugs the psychiatrist's life.Quote:
Originally Posted by ringfire211
But then you have to wonder about the likes of “Rest in Peace, Somebody” and “Hookman” which are my 2 all-time favorites. Do we classify those as psycho episodes or more like revenge episodes? And what about the chilling “Nightmare in Blue”? Does serial rapist qualify as a psycho episode? Does the character have to be schizophrenic to qualify as psycho?
I think those should be classified as revenge episodes. Revenge is the primary motivation in both Hookman and Rest in Peace.
The dictionary definition of a psycho (actually "psychopath") is:
"a person having an egocentric and antisocial personality marked by a lack of remorse for one's actions, an absence of empathy for others, and often criminal tendencies"