What is a good ( complete ) tv series to watch?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

137. Many series degrade by season 3

Advertisers don't want "new" and "creative"; they want the same stuff that sold soap and SUVs before. By the 3rd season, flocks of producers come in and adjust things to placate advertisers. This usually results in cliches and stereotypes and copy & paste plotlines. You can always count on one character developing an addiction to something, the love triangle, the newly introduced annoying family member, the surprising twist that's not a surprise at all, the annoying Christmas special with magic, the windfall that's gone before the end of the episode, etc. And of course there will come a time when someone has to do something incredibly stupid just to get to a scenario allowing adjustment to the story line or character set.

Sometimes a series will recover from this and sometimes not.

It seems to me that the best series are based on a book or books, just as the best movies are.