Top 10 Anticipated but Disappointing TV Shows

Johnny Sequoyah is Bo Adams – a girl born with supernatural abilities beyond her control. As she gets older, her powers increase in strength, forcing her guardians to break out a wrongfully convicted death-row inmate who can protect her from the forces of evil. The premise is nothing we hadn’t seen before, but Believe boasted a fantastic team behind the scenes – with Gravity’s academy award winning director Alfonso Cuarón as the creator and J.J. Abrams serving as executive producer. At the end of the day unfortunately, it proved to be a gorgeous but tedious series that failed to get viewers to care. Believe was canceled two months after airing the pilot episode.

Kelsey Grammer is an icon of the small screen, so people were rightfully excited when a new sitcom starring the Cheers and Frasier alumni was announced by ABC. Sadly – Hank was not even good enough to be called a poor man’s Frasier. Grammer is a business executive who is let go from his CEO job and moves his family from New York to Virginia. Obviously, hijinks ensue. Ten episodes were shot for this family comedy, but ABC only ended up airing five of them. Hank was so unfunny, Grammer himself asked the network to drop the series.

A sequel to That ‘70s Show starring Dennis from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia? Where do we sign up?! That ‘80s Show follows Eric Forman’s cousin Corey Howard, a struggling musician who works at a record shop. Despite being created by the same minds responsible for the hit series That 70’s Show, this spiritual sequel struggled through its first and only season before Fox gave it the chop. While its predecessor used the 70s as a backdrop for its lovable cast, That ‘80s Show is just a series of heavy-handed references to its decade, creating a mostly laugh-free experience.

Netflix has a decent track record, but they can’t all be winners. Marco Polo follows – well – Marco Polo during his days in Kublai Khan’s court. The unusual premise and high production value promised a gritty historical drama in the vein of HBO’s Game of Thrones or History Channel’s Vikings. Unfortunately, critics did not like what they saw, awarding the first season an aggregate score of only 24% on Rotten Tomatoes as of November 2017. After another season and a substantial monetary loss, Netflix called it a day and canceled Marco Polo.

Maybe they should’ve let this one starve. Clyde Phillips is an accomplished TV writer and producer, who contributed to Dexter’s early success as its showrunner. In Feed The Beast, he cast David Schwimmer as Tommy Moran, an alcoholic struggling to launch a restaurant in the Bronx, but whose dream is rendered difficult by criminals and corrupt officials. Good acting and visuals aside, this American crime drama was blasted by critics for a bland plot and generally unlikable characters. Canceled by AMC after just a single ten episode season, this poorly received drama was dead on arrival.

Getting a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes is considerably harder than earning a 100, especially for TV Shows. If nothing else, the reboot of Charlie’s Angels can take pride in having earned membership to that exclusive group. The original 1976 series was hardly a critical darling, but the first two seasons found a huge audience. This remake, on the other hand, was criticized for an uninteresting cast, terrible action scenes, and was promptly canceled before airing the season finale. Another movie reboot is in the works, so this ill-advised series is just a footnote in the franchise’s history.

Sometimes mediocrity hurts worse than being outright terrible. Aquarius stars David Duchovny as a ‘60s police detective hot on the trail of Charles Manson and his family. How could they possibly screw up such an awesome premise? While critics praised Aquarius for the way it handled the Manson storyline and the fantastic soundtrack, an over-reliance on police drama cliches dragged down the overall quality. After broadcasting the pilot, all of Aquarius’ episodes were released on NBC’s website for a four week period, which may have further contributed to its underwhelming ratings.

Sadly, moments of greatness do not always culminate in overall greatness. A period drama about the 1970s music scene created by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, Vinyl seemed to have all the pieces in place to be one of the best series of the decade. Airing on HBO – with a budget to spare – Vinyl works best when viewed as a time capsule for the 70s rock scene. Held up by solid acting and a few interesting stories, its first and only season was good but rarely anything more. Despite announcing a 2nd season renewal in February 2016, HBO ultimately canceled the series in June of that same year.

A massively successful and influential sitcom, Friends is seemingly set to live on forever in the form of re-runs. With that sort of impact, a spin-off was inevitable, and Matt LeBlanc’s Joey was the one to receive the push. Unsurprisingly, removing five of the six reasons people loved the original series had an adverse effect on the end product. Lasting less than two seasons, NBC’s spin-off plummeted in ratings during its second year due to airing in the same time slot as Fox’s American Idol. Joey was unlikely to ever match the high standards set by Friends, but even so, most expected better.


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.


“The Muppets” (2015-16)

“Marvel’s Iron Fist” (2017-)

“Power Rangers Super Megaforce” (2013-14)

Suddenly, Iron First looks pretty good. Based on the comic book property of the same name, Inhumans centers around an inhuman royal family forced to hide out on Earth after a military coup. Originally planned as a movie, Marvel Studios tried to have the best of both worlds by screening an IMAX version of the first two episodes. Sitting at only 8% on Rotten Tomatoes as of November 2017 – the lowest earned by any MCU product – Inhumans lacks the budget to do its source material justice. Criticized for a bland story and weak characters, sadly, there is little good to be said about this huge disappointment.