Thursday, September 06, 2007
The worst TV shows of all time
TIME's James Poniewozik has just put together his list of the 100 best TV shows of all time. Here you will find the usual candidates -- "Taxi," "60 Minutes," "All in the Family" -- along with some idiosyncratic picks -- "The Abbott and Costello Show," "Oprah," "Beavis and Butt-head."
But (no offense to Poniewozik) we see these lists all the time. What we need are more lists devoted to the WORST shows of all time. (Here's one from TV Guide, courtesy Wikipedia.) Let's hear it for "The Montefuscos"! Can we have an amen for "Sing Along with Mitch"? And even Brandon Tartikoff, who green-lighted it, knew just how awful "Manimal" was. So let's hear some nominees. (I'll bet there's someone out there who can't even stand "I Love Lucy.") The floor is yours. 80 Comments
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Does anyone remember "Small Wonder" ? It was a barf-O-rama about a man who created an android that looked like a little girl. He and his family passed off this android as a family member and lots of "fun" and "mischief" ensued. Even as a small child, I knew I wouldn't touch that show with a ten foot pole...
In no particular order:
Pete & Gladys Bringing up Buddy Queen for a Day The Seven Keys ( or anything with Jack Narz) Sugarfoot
In no particular order:
Pete & Gladys Bringing up Buddy Any show with Jack Narz My Little Margie
I am 19 years old but I am a huge lover of older tv shows only a few in past and present have left a very nasty taste in my mouth and most of them were remakes that insulted the orignal show or canceled my fave.
1) Gunsmoke- Not only my least favorite cowboy show but also the reason one of my favorite comdies was canceled, Gilligan's Island 2)The New "Flash Gordan" Not even close to the orignal classic CAN'T REMAKE A CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD!!! 3)CSI Miami, CSI New York: the charaters are nothing to the orignal and most watch out of all them CSI. Nobody can bet the lovely grissom. 4)All current running Comdey shows There has not been one show that has made me laugh in years. The crude humor gets old after a while. Will and Grace, 8 simple rules, George Lopez, King of Queens all make me fall asleep from boredom. Where's the Fonze, Tim the tool man and Steve Urkel with orginal lines and catchy quotes when you need them? 5) any and all soap opreas. They drag on longer than the should and Passions can't replace Charmed. 6) Dragon Ball I have to mention being a Japanese fan. I can't stand it. It just doesn't have the fun or "awness" of other anime like Naruto, Bleach, Pokemon, Trinty Blood, Howl's moving castle, Inuyasha and so on. Lamest Action Anime I've ever know.
OK here we go:
Matlock - Case record - 1billion wins, zero losses. John from Cincinnatti - there have been worse and cheesier but c'mon, was there ever a more uniteresting show? Joey - should have stopped at Friends Basically any show that came from a movie, other than MASH, and In the Heat of the Night. My personal worsts: Private Benjamin, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, followed by My Big Fat Greek Life. All great flicks but defaced by the TV demons. Monday Nite Football from the past 2-3 seasons. I see 6 seconds of game before the hype and commercials totally overload me. For teams I don't care about, it's double worse. City Guys - a saturday morning waste of a teen sitcom which sterotyped every bit of NY and then went into the ubelievable by trying to convince viewers that Manhattan only had one high school called "Manny High." I could go on but the list is endless and my boss is looking at me funny.
In no particular order:
Pete&Gladys Bringing up Buddy Hootenanny Treasure Chest (with Jan Murray) Mona McCluskey
For Martha -- yes, "Small Wonder" was godawful. I couldn't flip the channel fast enough -- even the theme song was vomit-inducing.
1. Falcon Crest
2. Punky Brewster 3. Policewoman 4. I Married Joan 5. The Andy Williams Show 6. Beat the Clock
Knight rider with David Hasselhoff
what about all of the current realty contests - Next Top Model, America's Got Talent etc I'd rather go to the dentist for root canal work.
99.9% of reality shows
How about Fox's "The Swan?" Admittedly, I just watched the whole series on DVD, but it's completely sick.
In no particular order.....
-Who wants to marry a midget -Fantasy Island -Cops -Fox News -My mother the car -After M*A*S*H -Cop Rock -Homeboys from outerspace -Bachelor Paris/ Bachelor Rome/ Bachelor NYC/ Bachelor Officer and a gentleman -Manimal
i might go w/Girlfriends and anything on the CW in Washington over the past 5 years. I'd rather watch a Golden Girls rerun marathon.
How about any one of the recent "REALITY" shows?...and in a category all by itself, MTV.
The alltime worst show for me was "Alf". I know people loved it, but come on! The dad, the alien, yuck!
Any list of worst TV shows ought to include Cop Rock! I can't imagine why any TV executive thought that was a good idea for a show.
I disagree with some of TV Guide's selections -- subjectivity comes into play here, I think.
I do agree that the Jerry Springer show is truly horrendous, however!
"The Gong Show" has to rank right up there with the worst.
Does anybody remember a Sitcom from the 1980's called "The Charmings" or something like that...basically a Fairy Tale Family living in current times?
I admit, I loved Knight Rider as a kid, but it aged very...VERY...poorly. Teen-Soaps (90210, The OC)...pretty much any show featuring over privileged rich-kids and their drama
Akk!
The person who said that he would prefer watching Urkel to Will & Grace caused my heart to beat a bit slower.
Can I get an amen to adding Cavemen to this list?
All reality shows, and game shows in primetime.
1. Reba 2. 30 Rock 3. Cops 4. America's most wanted. 5 The Tick 6. Lost
How about Televised Football that had Dennis Miller as commentor, God that was awful
Kookla, Fran and Ollie
It's About Time The Rosie O'Donnel Show The View (With or without Rosie O'Donnel) Touched By An Angel Manimal Knight Rider... I'm afraid this place might run out of bandwidth.
Hogans Heros seems a bit from left field. Not the greatest show ever, but certainly not one of the 50 worst. Same for Unhappily ever after. Eric Murphy from entourage deserves better treatment.
A comment from Italy: Small Wonder passed on TV a couple of decades ago. I still remember the urge that I felt to strangle everyone in the cast, anyone involved in the production, filming, screenplay, scripting, their families, relatives, and pets :-)
Seriously, it probably was the most awful show of all time.
Here are the top 10 of all time !!!
1)The Swan 2)Flavor of Love 3)Rachel Ray 4)Home Improvement 5)Drew Carey Show 6)Three's Company 7)Love Boat 8)Cheaters 9)Frasier 10)Baywatch
I got on this blog to also say that Small Wonder should be on the list (but was beaten to the punch by an earlier blogger). It would be hard to pass the computer girl for a real daughter. Perhaps armed and famous would be a close second (would have been the worst without eric estrada - but might have been a winner if it also had Larry Wilcox (John Baxter)).
My dislikes...
Any "Reality" type of show Manimal Automan The remake of Dark Shadows Then there are these. Hits for some, but I didn't enjoy them, didn't find them funny, and didn't miss them when they were gone. Sienfeld Friends Everybody Loves Raymond Sex in the City
This is easy:
700 Club - because it makes non-christians feel bad The Jerry Springer Show - because it makes wealthy people feel superior and white trash people look dumber than they need to look. Cop Rock - because it makes me want to toss my TV out the window. And finally, my pick for the worst of the worst: Law and Order - Because you never find a suspect and/or solve a case that quickly and because the show is basically the same damn story running on a loop episode after episode punctuated by some of the worst over acting in television history and the ubiquitious 'ba-boom' noise that they overuse.
Ugh. So hard to choose. I don't want to mention the crud others have posted. Lets try by category/Genre:
News/Analysis: Crossfire. Can't stand 4 guys "loud talking/yelling" over one another for the entire duration. (Has it changed, is it still on???) Sorry CNN. Like the network but hate that show. Reality? They all stink. If I wanted reality I'll watch the news or turn the darn thing off!!! Soaps (day or night time) they all stink too!!! Sports: Love SportsCenter but the recent "Who's Now" bits were a waste of air time. I turned the channel every time. Children's: Barney and Teletubbies. Extremely painful for an adult. Fortunately, my selective memory has blocked out memories of everything really bad that I've seen in Sci Fi, Drama or Comedy.
what about Land of the Lost? As a kid, I knew it was time to go play when that show came on. All reality TV...America's Next Top Model, The Bachelor, etc. Of course, you can't mention reality TV that makes a little bile form in your throat without mentioning MTV and the Real World gang. I would also like to give a special shout out to Flavor of Love and all the spin-offs. VH1 is definitely keeping up with the MTV's...
With the exception of BSG and BBC's Dr. Who, anything currently in production on the SCI-FI channel isn't worth the airtime it's given ( maybe Stargate, but they've cancelled SG-1, and Atlantis lost my interest).
Does anyone remember when there was only ONE MTV Channel, and it played nothing but music videos? Noadays, any shows MTV puts out is worth not watching (espicially "The Real World (insert city here)" TLC...honestly, in this economy with the housing marking falling, how many houses can be flipped? How many people need to be told what not to wear? ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I'm happy to see Jerry Springer at #1.
I've seen part of this show while waiting for a show I wanted to see, and I really found it hard to believe my eyes! It was disgusting - crude, rude & lowest common denominator. I don't like censorship, but I'd make an exception for this piece of trash.
I must be getting old. Here are some shows that stand out as pure dreck in my memory bank:
Supertrain - I actually remember seeing an episode of this show - it was jaw-dropping in its hideousness. Archie's Place (pathetic, sad, maudlin goop after such a superb run as All In The Family) You're In The Picture was a show that featured Jackie Gleason that was canceled after ONE episode, and was so bad he came on the next week to sit in a chair, smoking a cigarette, apologizing about how bad it was. Family Affair - watching Brian Keith mumble his way through this saccharine show was nearly worth the price of admission, but then you had a guy named "French" and it was a bit too much. Petticoat Junction - did anyone drink the water in that town? The Lucy Show - a scant fraction of her talent wasted on a boiler-plate "comedy" that just bored the tears out of me. There's a million others, but these are the ones that come to mind.
worst shows on my list -
The Howard Stern Show The Jerry Springer Show The Bachelor/Bachelorette Family Guy Frasier 7th Heaven Teletubbies Big Brother I know I have a ton more.....
Here's my top 5...
1 Full House (so sappy and awful, even as a kid I hated it.) 2 Temptation Island 3 Small Wonder 4 The Bachelor 5 The Real World starting with season four
Cop Rock.
Charles in Charge. That 80's Show. Any Saturday morning cartoon created from 1990 to the present. The New Adventures of Old Christine. The Land of the Lost---so bad it was good.
My Top Ten Worst TV Shows of All-Time
Note: I was born in 1980, so these shows are from my generation. 1. Baywatch 2. Laguna Beach/The Hills/Newport Beach and 95% of MTV's other programming 3. CSI: Miami 4. Desperate Housewives (once the novelty wore off after the first 6 episodes, it's basically Knot's Landing) 5. Charles in Charge 6. Jag 7. Nip/Tuck 8. Joe Millionaire 9. Deal or No Deal 10. The Flavor of Love
Well, I'll tell you how bad TV shows have become - I haven't had cable or watched TV over the past five years. The only thing still worth watching is NFL football - even though commercials pretty much overwhelm the game. Oh, and for what it's worth - I have to disagree with the blogger about the remake of Dark Shadows. I LOVED it!!
Am I the only one that thinks the show "The girls next Store" is one dumb show. This is a story about three bimbo's who happend to live with Hugh Heffner and thats all they do! Please explain why these girls are on any kind of TV. Is it to show how you can dumb you can actually act on TV or is it just big boobs.
Reba
Flavor of Love (Obnoxious display of vulgarity. It's not even amusing) The Wrong Coast King of the Hill Charmed Medium Every TV show showing people hurting themselves to get some air time. Disturbing and pathetic. Every prank call/candid camera show or clip. The most washed-up idea on TV got boring 50 years ago.
I don't know if I'm the only person in the world that absolutely despised this show, but I can't stand and have never had the patience for Seinfeld. I freaking hate that show!!!
Oh man, there are *so* many bad shows to choose from, but off the top of my head how about The "New" Monkees? The original Monkees weren't brilliant actors or musicians, but they had genuine talent and charm. The New Monkees were just... aweful.
American Idol is a very bad show. Might work if they got someone who actually knew about music involved and didn't spend half the show just insulting people who go out and try to perform.
For children's shows, there is none worse than PBS' "BooBah." It's frightening and almost makes Barney look good. Saturday Night Live has, for the most part, lost its charm as well. It used to be top-notch talent performing classically funny material, but now it's just sad, crude inside-Hollywood jokes.
I never liked Alf or Seinfeld either.
Who could forget "Joanie Loves Chachi"? Unfortunately not I. The worst!!
Nothing could get much worse than VH1's "Celebreality" shows. I think the "Flavor of Love" spinoff with the girl Flavor Flav DIDN'T choose, "I Love New York," is quite possibly the most mind-numbingly stupid show ever.
The idea that 20 guys would compete over the affections of an average-looking, loud, overconfident drama queen with serious emotional issues is just unbelievable.
The Bewitched spin-off TABITHA has got to be the worst. Shame too, because I LOVED Bewitched.
In no particular order...
Family Guy Jackass (never got it, never will) Futurama Flavor of Love (and every spin-off of that horrid show) Star Trek (all of them) Dr. Phil
All soap operas
All "reality shows" Friends Will and Grace That 70's Show King of The Hill Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Tonight Show with Jay Leno Jimmy Kimmel Live The Man Show Smallville Seinfeld Psych Growing Pains Family Matters Roseanne Six Feet Under Andy Griffith Show Cheers Frasier My Name Is Earl Desperate Housewives Grey's Anatomy Las Vegas Gilmore Girls The O.C. Prison Break Alias Buffy Angel The Office Sex and the City Caveman
I agree with the other poster in regards to banning 99.99% percent of all reality shows. While there are a few reality shows that are good, the majority of them are awful.
Reality shows have followed the same pattern as other concepts. A new tv show with a different spin becomes a hit, copying by other producers ensues, the television networks being greedy pick up the show, hoping for a piece of the new idea piece..... And on it goes.......
Most of your readers are too young to have seen it, but "Queen For A Day" is easily the worst show to ever hit the airways. It featured poor women who were under enormous stress, a typical show had a woman who lost her husband to an untimely death, leaving her with 5 kids and no means to support them. Her gift for winning? A refrigerator and a television set!
Are infomercials included? They should be because there are so many of them. When I turn on the TV early in the morning when insomnia has set in, the program guide is full of "paid program" listings. I stumbled across one that was just hideous. The guy was talking about bowel movements and what they should look like!!!! I have no idea why he was discussing that because I hit the remote as soon as I could.
Do people really watch that?!?!? But other than that, Saved by the Bell and Extreme Makeover are on my list of awful tv shows.
I can't believe nobody listed Life on a Stick. Maybe nobody saw it.
I agree with everything listed here and in the TV Guide list, but would like to second the poster who hated "Seinfeld." I never understood what was entertaining/amusing/interesting about whiny, neurotic, self-obsessed New Yorkers. Also, "The Simple Life" in all its incarnations reeks worse than Paris Hilton's crusty undies. The revamped "SeaQuest" show was awful, and a big insult to the first season, which was good. Gotta add that anything with Rachael "I'm my own biggest fan" Ray is unbearable, as is anything with Bobby Flay. To the poster who mentioned "Joanie Loves Chachi" - thanks...not! Now I gotta go wash my brain in a bleach bath to try and eradicate those reawakened memories. ;-)
Third Rock from the Sun
Taxi Cab Confessions John from Cincinnati My Name is Earl Jerry Springer
I don't get that people like Seinfeld...
But, CSI:Miami I really do like that show! Horatio is very cool and the other cast members are good too. CSI:NY I never got into that one.
How about Big Brother and it's fake news-person moderator Julie Chen?
The 700 Club - one of the most destructive forces of all behind trashing the real spirit of America and turning this country into something it was never meant to be - we have become, though shows such as these - the bane of our own existence.
1) Most reality shows
2) Will & Grace 3) Queen for a Day 4) Wheel of Fortune 5) Any show with Paris Hilton 6) The View 7) Howard Stern 8) MTV & VH1 (what happened to the 'Music'? 9) Springer and the clones 10) Walker, Texas Ranger 11) Jackass 12) Sex in the City 13) Fox News 14) PTL and 700 Club
LOST, definitely!
This show is nonsense and is going nowhere. Their antiques are so ludicrous!
"The View" - Way too much estrogen
"Entertainment Tonight" - Ruins my evening 4 days a week "Monday Night Football" - How many drunk driving fatalities result from this american tradition?
The worst TV shows I believe to exist: The Cosby Show, King of the Hill, Felix the Cat, Sanford and Son, SpongeBob SquarePants, All Wrestling, Sports Center and last but not least, The Super Bowl.
My worst shows:
1. American Idol 2. The Real World 3. America's next top model 4. Survivor 5. Pirate master. 6. The Apprentice 7. Manhunt 8. Baywatch I have no doubt I'll think of more.... Thanks, Elaine
All time worse shows?
Seinfeld,Everyone Loves Raymond,All Soap Operas,Jerry Springer,Cops,7th Heaven,all Reality based programs,American Idol,The Price Is Right,CSI Maimi,Hell's Kitchen,The Barefoot Contessa,The 700 Club,CNN's Crossfire and Lou Dob. Too many to name here,that's just a sampling of some of the all time worse programs on the air--and we're stupid enough to have kept some of these shows running well past their "expiry date".
Okay, here goes: (and this is not comprehensive, but these are the ones that I know are JUST TOO BAD)
1. Small Wonder 2. Family Ties 3. ALF 4. Jerry Springer (although I hesitate to include it, because it does have that "witnessing a car crash, can't look away" watch factor) 5. Sabrina the Teenage Witch 6. Walker, Texas Ranger (come on, people...) 7. Amos 'n' Andy 8. The Parkers 9. Scrappy Doo (actually, all 70's era cartoons with cheap, crappy animation and no real plot.) 10. Passions (I get it and I still think it's STUPID) 11. Saved By The Bell 12. Golden Girls 13. Max Headroom Okay, now for the best: 1. Seinfeld (it's comic genius, people, and it stands up to time.) 2. Frasier 3. Twillight Zone (b&w original) 4. The Tonight Show (in all its incarnations) 5. The Simpsons 6. The Bugs Bunny and RoadRunner Show 7. South Park (crude but scathing, funny and smart social commentary) 8. 60 Minutes 9. The Cosby Show 10. Taxi 11. Cheers
Walker, Texas Ranger
7th Heaven Touched by an Angel Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (most manipulative show ever) The O.C. Full House Cheers (I really never got this one...Ted Danson??)
If we're talking bad also in the sense of horribly overhyped and falling short, then Studio 60 takes the cake. Matthew Perry is THE most underutilized TV talent. Or maybe it's his decision making that has landed him garbage. Nonetheless, I tried with this one, and tried, week after week but it only got worse.
And why does everyone bash Cop Rock as a ridiculous premise? A completely ridiculous premise yes but you gotta admit interesting. But then again wasn't Seinfeld a nothing premise? And everyone went gaga for that one (those here exluded).
How about "Saved By The Bell"? They run multiple episodes of this show every day on my cable network...the lamest thing ever put on TV.
I saw "Pete and Gladys" listed. I LOVED that show! (for real)
On my list of stinkers would be Big Brother (ugh! WHO cares about ill behaved, undereducated, spoiled children misbehaving for all to see) Any recent list would have to include King of Queens, Raymond, and the embarrassingly bad "So You Want To Be A Hilton"
Ok, this column is about the WORST shows of all time....am i reading these lists correctly? Did someone actually mention LOST, ALIAS and FRASIER among the WORST shows of all time? I realize everyone is entitled to their opinions, but my goodness....there is plenty more to hate besides these three critically acclaimed, Emmy winning shows.
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