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Many viewers know this disappointment. The follow-up season of your favorite TV show drops on your platform, and your mind is full of hopeful expectation. The initial run ended flawlessly: narrative threads were dangled enticingly, and a main character had – cliffhanger! – been offed (or had they?). During the hiatus, you scoured online forums with other hardcores to uncover hidden hints pointing toward upcoming twists.

But the new season opener falls flat. The writing appears robotic and uninspired. Cut to the second episode, a beloved actor's character acts in a way that fans unanimously declare inconsistent. By episode five, it becomes obvious the creators forgot regarding plot points heavily emphasized earlier. By the lackluster conclusion, you long for an earlier termination.

The Curse of Overextension

Regretting a show's continuation is hindsight; audiences frequently rally against early axings. Take Kaos, a clever mythological satire starring Jeff Goldblum, axed by Netflix because of weak audience numbers. Yet audiences can console themselves that the show's quality wasn't tarnished by a weak follow-up.

Looking back at the horror-mystery show Yellowjackets, I prefer it had remained a self-contained narrative. Season one had a creatively abundant premise, with ten flawless installments. A 1996 plane crash strands a female soccer team in wilderness. Skilled performers (featuring Juliette Lewis, Lauren Ambrose and Sophie Thatcher) portrayed the team then and now. Several prize nominations followed, producers originally mapped out a five-season arc to fully explore the narrative. But last week, it was announced that it would end with season four. And as a fan, I let out a sigh of relief.

The Stranger Things cast returns for season five.

Story decisions have weakened the core. Rather than leading with the girls’ return home, and their struggle with traumatic memories, we were taken in directions that bloated the original premise. A fatiguing tendency emerged of highlighting added personalities (such as Shauna’s two-dimensional daughter Callie) who added little to the overarching plot. It's disappointing, and watching a beloved program become tedious is sad.

A Growing Trend

But it’s not only Yellowjackets. Shows such as Emily in Paris, House of the Dragon, Squid Game and Stranger Things lack original impact, and embraced predictable tropes. Sometimes shows need to quit when they are ahead.

Actually, benefits come from self-contained series. From Sharp Objects to I May Destroy You to Adolescence, producers recognize appropriate conclusion points. Yet the spell breaks for programs including Big Little Lies, originally a limited series, extend endlessly with reduced impact. Perhaps Adolescence's team reconsidered a second season.

The Ideal Model

I preferred Yellowjackets as a limited run, residing permanently in our thoughts, unresolved threads included. My favorite TV show of all time has played out like that. The classic teen series, the quintessential youth program, ran for just one year but achieved film-like breadth: its characters were difficult and contradictory, the cinematography was perfectly autumnal, and the scripts transcended typical youth dialogue. The conclusion provided no neat resolution, but that is perfectly in keeping with the reality of never having real, definitive answers to the open-ended questions from your teenage years. After 18 perfect episodes (and one dodgy one), I was heartbroken and took to writing season two fan fiction myself to address unfinished business. Though stored on outdated technology, but it speaks to how deeply TV shows can chime with us.

The Sacred Bond

If TV creators can remember the sacrosanct relationship between viewers and shows, more programmes can bow out when the time is right.

• This writer writes about the arts, music and fashion.