🔗 Share this article

Looking back, we reflect on the television landscape of the recent year, a selection of shows emerge not for their brilliance, but for their spectacular failures. From cringe-inducing spin-offs to confusingly bad docuseries, here are the programmes that left us scratching our heads or just reaching for the remote.

And Just Like That

How to start with this love/hate spin-off? Plagued with woeful scripts, painful character development (justice for Miranda!), and a mere 71 seconds of beloved Samantha, the show fought to justify its existence. Briefly, as the third series started, it seemed as if it had at last hit its stride. Then came an episode centered on Seema’s natural deodorant. Little surprise the showrunner announced this would be the last series. It ended on a bum note; the lingering shot of Miranda’s toilet flooded with poo was simply too symbolic. Yet, viewers undeniably found joy dissecting every single “wtf?” moment. And as Carrie – a single woman once more – danced around her sprawling townhouse to Barry White, who couldn't let out a small sob?

All’s Fair

‘Can Kim Kardashian act? Of course she can’t.’

But that was almost the smallest of this show's problems. The subject of a exceedingly uncommon no-star assessment, it was difficult to know where to begin listing the problems. The laughably wooden writing? The mind-numbing veneration of wealth and materialism? The seemingly wilful parade of tropes? Acting so poor they felt borderline malicious? Let’s just say “all of the above” and never speak of this show again. Except, a new season has been ordered, so we’re likely going to have to.

AKA Charlie Sheen

Considering the legal troubles, domestic violence claims and fatherly failures, it’s fair to say Charlie Sheen has been a troubled figure. Not that you’d truly have gleaned it from this multi-part documentary which smirked its way at Sheen’s various bouts of self-destructive hedonism while failing to tell us anything we didn’t already know. Rather, it felt as if this loose cannon was being indulged, so any sympathy this series might induce should be saved for the people who have had to endure close contact with this charismatic but flippant egotist.

The Iris Affair

Naturally we understood it was preposterous from the get-go: a drama about a AI known as Charlie Big Potatoes that could either save the world – or annihilate all of humanity. We persevered out of pure admiration for its stars … but by the end, it felt like even they had given up trying. One scarcely reacted when his character died, and the other ended up hacking Charlie with an axe … in painfully slow-motion. That's what you call admitting defeat.

The Gangster Drama

Dodgy figures meeting in empty boxing gyms? A certain band's Firestarter blaring in club scenes? The late 90s called and demands its crime drama back.

In truth, that is harsh on the crime shows of the late 90s. Many look a little old-fashioned now, but at least they didn’t endure the ignominy of having to accommodate baffling dialects. But there were plenty of other problems. Mainly that it was just profoundly dull; a dispute over drug-selling territory between various cockney picaresques which felt a bit basic.

With Love, Meghan

Given the extent to which she provokes the ire of the nation’s ostentatiously enraged commentators, it’s temptingly tempting to admire the Duchess of Sussex’s televised forays into twee lifestyle as deliberate provocations. But then you watch them and are compelled to admit that actually, they might have a point. It’s like watching a homeware catalogue animated; a meme for wine o’clock with ideas of grandeur; a procession of sleeping dogs, buzzing beehives, Hallmark sayings and forgettable crafting “tips” you’ll not remember instantly. All supported by vast, mostly unearned wealth. Ugh.

The Beckham Documentary

There are obviously interesting things to be said about regarding Victoria Beckham and her struggles with career, self-image, self-acceptance. But for some reason, this three-part series chose not to say them. Instead, the viewing was like reading a sales brochure. She obviously has good reason to resent what she describes as her “stern” image. But sadly, she failed to do herself any favours with this guarded non-event of a series.

The Game Show

It should have been the next cultural phenomenon – except even more extravagant, with a famous star as a deceased benefactor and a sharp-tongued personality managing her inheritance. What more could you ask for? As players battled it out, there was plenty of backstabbing and arguing. But the rules quickly became bewildering: it’s still too complicated to explain what precisely was happening. Even more disappointingly, we only saw glimpses of the star via prerecorded videos. The show ended up smelling of a programme that was straining desperately to live up to something way beyond it.

Too Much

How does one follow a show that captured a generation? The pressure was immense for this starry romantic comedy about Jessica, a hopeful New Yorker who lands in London with a broken heart. The star seized the opportunity by the horns and was joyous to watch, reveling in Austen levels of romantic ideals. But it was all very glossy and, ironically, was not enough. Plus, the sheer amount of celebrity friends involved felt icky.

The Sketch Show Return

Not even good enough to be ‘patchy’.

Given the shrewd inclusion of gifted younger comics, expectations were high. But sadly, most of it fell flat. A recurring sketch was a single joke stretched to a husk but recurring in every episode. One star seemed too willing to slip into a familiar ranting mode. The writing room sketches, in contrast, simply inspired the idea that they should probably have stayed in there a bit longer.

The Knox Dramatisation

This retelling of the story of Amanda Knox was executive produced by Amanda Knox and pretty much solely presented the perspective of Amanda Knox. So, while there probably is an interesting drama to be made about the tragic 2007 murder, this isn’t it. The material needed to be treated sensitively. Rather, the series laboured awkwardly to find the right tone, lumbering from strangely breezy, slightly mannered farce to inevitably, real-life horror. Twisted? Perhaps. A total mess? Very much so.

Prime Target

We admire the lead actor … but did we believe him playing the most brilliant maths genius since, a man so intelligent he’s on the verge of a breakthrough that could destabilise society? No! This international thriller about government agencies spying on – and killing off – academics honestly got more farcical by the second. Silliness-by-numbers.

1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story

This hagiography followed the online personality notorious for explicit escapades as she prepared for her biggest challenge yet. What on earth would motivate her? What we wanted was far greater examination of her true psyche, plus those of the men in the queue. They could at least have spoken to the now-famous mum who showed up to haul her son away from the queue. What we got was disturbing shots and absolutely no critical analysis of her notoriety whatsoever. And to think, the filmmaker has a teenage daughter too.