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[AlteredForms]

Usually I would write a paragraph highlighting the motivations and intentions behind the threads I create, but I honestly cannot be bothered so here's the 411. Television shows are unique from other related media because of their ongoing nature and as such they often follow a similar path to one another. The first season involves a large amount of money, planning and marketing and as a result puts the entire production on the map and turns the cast members into overnight celebrities. Then riding that momentum comes the second season which is often superior to the first due to a larger budget, additional characters and storylines as well as familiarity with one another. Then follows the middling third chapter which isn't as good as either though manages to do an amiable job before the cracks start to show in the fourth and everything inevitably turns into a dumpster fire. Let's focus on those prime slices of television when everything was in unison, before it all fell apart due to staleness, departure or cancellation. I did it again eh?

Mine:

Game of Thrones

Prime (2011-2014)

Peak = Season 2

The Simpsons

Prime (1989-2000)

To

Peak = Season 6

Lucifer

Prime (2016-2018)

Peak = Season 2

 

[VenomousCoffee]

Arrow comes to mind. Season 1 was good in a 'mindless action-y teenage drama' way, and I really liked season 2 in the way OP describes, "Season 1 but more" (I'm a big Deathstroke fan too). But then it just absolutely fell apart at some point. I think I quite in season 5? After a certain point it's all a blur.

 

[Trunx81]

After a certain point it's all a blur.

The blur was in Smallville, though /jk

I would ad SUPERNATURAL. The first season was just a "Monster of the week" show, but then it turned into something magical with the implementation of the overreaching story arc. Season 3, due to the writers strike a bit shorter, was really, really good and created the foundation for the absolutely amazing seasons 4 and 5, where the show was intended to stop because the mainstory was over. After that, they struggled for a lot of seasons, with dumb main-villains, until they found their foot back in season 11. Chuck only knows how this show could run so long and still had so many, many glory moments.

 

[The Cockatrice]

The majority of TV shows the thread? They all follow the same pattern. Very rarely have I seen a final/last season being better than the first ones. If you want more examples so you can fuel your disappointment: Dexter, The Office, Seinfeld, House of Cards, Sherlock, The Mandalorian, House, Black Mirror, and so on and so forth. It would prolly be best to ask for shows that are quality from start to finish.