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Many viewers know this disappointment. The follow-up season of your top TV show drops on your platform, and your mind is full of hopeful expectation. Season one ended flawlessly: future plotlines were teased tantalisingly, and a key figure faced a shocking fate – or did they?. During the hiatus, you delved into fan discussions with other hardcores to decode subtle references illuminating what would happen next.

But the new season opener falls flat. It seems as if the creative team was swapped for algorithms. In episode two, your favorite cast member has done something that viewers recognize as jarringly uncharacteristic. By episode five, the writers appear to have memory loss around the storylines aggressively signposted in season one. And by the disappointing finale, you silently wish that the show had just been cancelled.

The Downside of Too Many Seasons

Wishing for cancellation can only be retrospective; viewers usually oppose premature cancellations. Look at Kaos, a clever mythological satire starring Jeff Goldblum, axed by Netflix because of weak audience numbers. But perhaps these fans will rest better with the knowledge their enjoyment of the series won’t have been muddied by a sophomore slump.

Reflecting on Yellowjackets, I prefer it had remained a self-contained narrative. The first season boasted an inventive concept, and every episode hit the right marks. In 1996, a plane carrying an all-girl high school football team crashes in the middle of nowhere. Top-notch cast members (featuring Juliette Lewis, Lauren Ambrose and Sophie Thatcher) portrayed the team then and now. There were multiple award nominations, producers originally mapped out a five-season arc to fully explore the narrative. However, a season four finale was just confirmed. And as a fan, I let out a sigh of relief.

Young actors prepare for Stranger Things' next chapter.

Story decisions have weakened the core. In place of exploring post-rescue life, and their coping with awful experiences, we were taken in directions that bloated the original premise. That included the show’s tiring habit of introducing peripheral figures (including the flat character Callie) who did nothing for the broader story. It's disappointing, and watching a beloved program become tedious is sad.

A Common Phenomenon

However, Yellowjackets isn't alone. Programs including Emily in Paris, House of the Dragon, Squid Game and Stranger Things no longer surprise audiences, and settled into familiar patterns. At times, programs must stop while successful.

The thing is, there are joys to be had in a limited, “one-and-done” series. Looking at Sharp Objects, I May Destroy You, and Adolescence, writers understand when narratives find completion. However, the magic fades with series like Big Little Lies, initially a one-season story, extend endlessly with reduced impact. Hopefully, Adolescence’s producers have thought twice about that rumoured season two.

The Perfect Example

I desired Yellowjackets as a single-season show, occupying our minds endlessly, mysteries intact. The best program I've seen succeeded this way. The classic teen series, the perfect 90s teen dramedy, ran for just one year yet felt epic in scale: the personalities were complex and inconsistent, the cinematography was perfectly autumnal, and the scripts transcended typical youth dialogue. The conclusion provided no neat resolution, but this reflects truth appropriately of never having real, definitive answers to the open-ended questions from your teenage years. After 18 great episodes (and one mediocre), I was heartbroken and took to writing season two fan fiction myself to answer some of those questions. Despite existing on obsolete equipment, but it speaks to how deeply TV shows can chime with us.

The Sacred Bond

When producers honor the special viewer-program bond, more programmes can bow out when the time is right.

• The author focuses on cultural topics.