Sophomore slumps aren’t solely the domain of television — just ask the band members of U2, the filmmakers of the Cars franchise, the developers behind the Dragon Age video games, and any number of English Premier League teams.

But diminished returns are especially evident on television, perhaps because a TV show’s second season typically airs soon after its first, making the contrast glaring. Here are our picks for TV shows that went downhill in their second seasons — only some of which recovered — ranked by steepness of that decline.