TV series that ended up being a complete waste of time

The Regime. Unforgivably bad.

I'll also never forgive the final episode of Dexter.

Oh yes, The Regime. I stuck it out for Kate Winslet but even she couldn't save that mess.

Game of Thrones. meandering mess.

I only made it halfway through the second season of Survivor back in the day before dropping that "reality" show like a hot potato. The whiny vegan was too much.

Glee. Couldn’t finish the final season. True Blood.

The first episode of "The Summit" was promising, but after around 4 episodes I realized I hated it and stopped. Same thing happened with "House of Villains".

I gave up on True Blood as well. Strong start but it fizzled out fast.

Sorry, but Palm Royale. I wanted to give the set designer and costumer an Emmy, but not even Alison Janney's perfect performance could have saved that shitty script.

Watched the first season of Supernatural thinking, this definitely sucks, but I’ve heard it’s good. It’s got to improve in season 2.

Watched the first episode of season 2 and realized how wrong I had been.

Mare of Easttown, which seemed to have nothing to say other than how important and serious it was.

The Walking Dead. I quit when Negan came along.

Black Doves. It was like The Diplomat meets Slow Horses, but with Keira Knightley in greasy hair and Ben Whishaw in a Jackie Kennedy bouffant.

The Dynasty remake. Pointless, boring shit. So much filler, so little compelling drama.

I also second Palm Royale!

Palm Royale looked so good, but it was pointless, and its story made no sense.

What a waste of Ricky Martin in trim 60s swimming trunks...

R10 Mare was good. I had difficulty watching the first two episodes the first try, but I took a break & rewatched & enjoyed the series.

That one where Jodie Foster was a lady sheriff in Alaska.

Only Murders in the Building started to fade halfway through S2.

White Lotus had one good season - it's first.

Lost. Could have gone to Med School.

I Love Lucy. She never got in the show!

"I Love Lucy." I should have realized after the first season that Ricky would never let her go into show business.

R19 and I apparently have a psychic connection.

This Is Us

How I Met Your Mother

Harry and Meghan Markle's horrible "docu-series."

Polo

Apples never fall

The Staircase

The Leftovers

The Bear. I don't get what all the fuss is about.

Three's Company. Every episode had the same plot ---- One roommate misunderstood something about another one and incorrectly presumed it involved sex.

Yeah, went bad after 3-4 days, r27

Lost.

Was it just a dream at the end?

Yellowjackets. Exactly the type of story that should have been a miniseries. I was annoyed when season one ended and they hadn't yet resorted to the cannibalism we see in s01e01.

Showtime has to suck the life out of any good premise. That's why they will NEVER be as good as HBO.

Same, r11. I hated Negan because he refused to shut the fuck up for even a second. By far the hammiest performance in a show full of irritating characters. The director should have told him to take it down about five notches.

R31 Dear god, no. Lost wasn’t a dream. You really missed out if you watched the whole series and that’s what you came away with.

And whose dream would it have been?

Schitt's Creek. Repetitive and not funny.

Yes, OP---"The Summit"! I guess I watched 4 or 5 episodes before I realized it wasn't what I was hoping for.

I really liked "Halcyon Days" and was disappointed that "Riviera" was boring, so, Ricky Martin notwithstanding, I didn't even bother with "Palm Royale."

I tried to get interested in "Rizzoli and Isles," but the voices of Angie Harmon and Lorraine Bracco were like Brillo pads on my eardrums, so nope.

I lost interest in "Lost" once the actual cast became the "story" instead of the show's plot. So I, too, do not know if it was a dream, or like "Planet of the Apes," or in the mind of an alien, or real!

When Bobby came back from the dead

[quote]How I Met Your Mother

Agreed. I think that series finale was pretty much universally despised for turning the entire show into a red herring.

I know you'll disagree, but I watched the entirety of Breaking Bad just to see what people saw in it. And by the end, I still hadn't figured it out. It was like every episode was exactly the same. Bombs, guns, guns, bombs.

I want that time back.

R39 I also thought Breaking Bad was very overrated and not a single character was likable or redeemable. I appreciated it for the acting and the writing was mostly good. I find no appeal in the underworld of meth. Disgusting drug.

R8 You’re sorry?

I had such high hopes for Palm Royale, but what a mess

I don't understand the obsession with likeability. Go watch Friends or Full House if your main concern is liking the characters.

Heroes. Such a strong start.

The Brady Brides

I didn't know that "The Brady Brides" lasted long enough to waste very much of anyone's time.

Nashville and Friday Night Lights both went out with a whimper.

How I Met Your Mother owns this thread. Holy shit, what a horrible ending. After sticking through the whole thing, I swore I would never watch reruns on tv or stream it. And I've kept that promise.

Succession and that other one about traders in London on HBO. Let's watch rich people do coke and fly in helicopter! No.

The Menendez one.

I gave that a skip when I heard the vastly (as it were) overrated Lens Dunham was behind that show.

the later seasons of Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives, and Weeds.

R17 White Lotus has only had 2 Seasons and most people agreed Season 2 was great. Season 3 has yet to be released.

I agree Palm Royale and Succession. Never finished either.

Weeds went to absolute shit when they burned down Agrestic.

I watched White Lotus for 1.5 seasons and hated it. It has the same creator as Enlightened but I think the latter is far superior.

Funny I gave Palm Royale its full run. I wasn’t expecting much and I watched it when I wanted complete fluff. Kristen Wiig serviceable. And I get a kick out of Josh Lucas’s queenie voice on that show and his Home Depot Voiceovers. Is he queen or just a Georgian?

The Netflix Jon Benet Ramsey documentary. Here's a summary--"bla bla bla".

Ryan Murphy owns this thread. I have started so many of his series JUST to drop them, most recently Grotesquerie. But he keeps you hanging on because every once in a while you get a Feud Betty and Joan, Feud Capote and Swans, Dahmer, OJ, Menendez.

Ryan Murphy is the Max Martin of television.

Succession. Should have been a two hour movie. My partner and I wanted to quit after the first series which was mildly amusing but some friends urged us to stay with it, it gets better. We did, and it didn't. A lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

I loved Succession as well as Breaking Bad, but I’m on board with hating Weeds.

It started out strong, but as soon as Agrestic went up in smoke, so did the show. It became a meandering mess with no clear direction for either plot or characters.

[quote] How I Met Your Mother owns this thread. Holy shit, what a horrible ending. After sticking through the whole thing, I swore I would never watch reruns on tv or stream it. And I've kept that promise.

I have done that too. I think many people have done the same thing too and that may be why they show has pretty much disappeared from reruns on cable.

R47, "Friday Night Lights" is returning next year or 2026, on Peacock.

Blacklist.... went nowhere interesting.

Desperate Housewives

R62, did it? I thought it still plays in reruns somewhere. Regardless, I will never give that show the time of day ever again. I would rather watch the entire Friends run versus 5 minutes of How I Met Your Mother.

Marc Cherry was such a smug conservative bitch back then. I loved watching Desperate Housebitches just to see his self-proclaimed brilliance unravel.

[quote] [R62], did it? I thought it still plays in reruns somewhere. Regardless, I will never give that show the time of day ever again. I would rather watch the entire Friends run versus 5 minutes of How I Met Your Mother.

I think cable networks stopped airing the reruns maybe a year or two ago or longer. I have Directv and did a search on the guide and it doesn't pop up on any upcoming airings. These days the sitcoms that are on cable reruns are Friends, The Office, Seinfeld, The Big Bang Theory, Parks and Rec, and then add in long running animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy.

R68, it's popular to hate on Friends but I think How I Met Your Mother ended up being a much worse show. I know people also hated the Friends finale but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as HIMYM. Not even in the same ballpark.

Westworld.

Outstanding 1st season then the Nolans started believing all the hype and completely lost the plot.

By the time they got to season 4 it was all just a muddled mess.

I first realized I was a mature adult and could watch a program for myself and despite the hype say - this isn’t for me - I don’t have to like this. I felt that way about The Bear. I watched four episodes and was like, I’m good.

I wasted a lot of time on Lost before I realised that I really no longer cared what was going on.

Game of Thrones was so good for most of its rune, and the performances were brilliant, but the last season made it perfectly clear that the showrunners didn’t give the tiniest shit about bringing the story to a satisfying close. Everything about it was terrible. Even fundamental technical considerations were ignored, which meant that whole minutes went by in which poor lighting or sound made it unwatchable..

"Nine Perfect Strangers." And I'm someone who actually likes Nicole Kidman in her "prestige TV" projects. That show, however, was a black hole of nothingness.

Also, "Feud: Capone vs The Swans."

BSG

Still pissed about that one.

Murphy Brown reboot

Mad About You reboot

[quote]Watched the first episode of season 2 and realized how wrong I had been.

You should have given Supernatural more time R9. A lot of shows (especially genre shows) have to grown into their own. Season 5 of Supernatural was Emmy worthy. Went downhill (though not quickly) from there.

A lot of shows being named (Desperate Housewives) were not a waste of time. They just went on too long, and their endings were "meh".

Weeds, GOT, and some others (HIMYM) were just ruined by their endings.

I'd love to see a show where a syphilis-mad Al Capone goes to war with a bunch of New York society ladies, r73

Gordon Ramsay's travel docs about cocaine and shark fins and the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares are excellent

R44 I can't believe I made it through more than one season of that show. I don't think I remember any of it now.

I never got all the attention that “Turnabout” with John Schuck got. I mean the raves and awards. I watched it … feh. Sure, I have a Schuck as Sam Alston poster on my wall (who DOESN’T), but the show overall is OVERRATED.

Partridge Family

Game of Thrones turned to utter shit the instant they hit the end of the books, that's the only show I can think of I actually got invested in that completely disgusted and lost me before the finish. I even finished That 70's Show, Monk, and House all of which jumped the shark big time well before ending. With GoT it was too much because it so legitimately deserved much better.

Succession was amazing. Sorry for those who were just not quite there intellectually to appreciate it.

Grey's Anatomy

[quote] it's popular to hate on Friends but I think How I Met Your Mother ended up being a much worse show. I know people also hated the Friends finale but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as HIMYM. Not even in the same ballpark.

I also thought How I Met Your Mother was worse than Friends. The Friends finale was ok except for the predictable "I didn't get on the plane" part. I watched some Friends reruns after HIMYM ended and I found that the characters on Friends weren't as annoying as the HIMYM characters. I would take dumb but lovable Joey and Phoebe any day over HIMYM characters like Marshall and Lily.

Friends was good the first 5 seasons but funny writting was replaced by endless romantic melodramas and aged repetitive jokes . Its funny how much of a short shelf life the show had. I think I rewatched the show once and it was enough, meanwhile other shows like Seinfeld I've rewatched 10 times and I still lmao.

HIMYM I couldn't get past one episode. Too millenial for me.

Succession is TV written by management consultants for the entertainment of tax attorneys. Not even Kieran Culkin’s cuteness could make it watchable.

The thing about Succession was that it was two great seasons (the first one and the last one) and the rest only serve the purpose of resetting the main story line and keeping the show in a holding pattern.

I waited until Succession ended and then watched it over two weeks. I knew I wouldn't be able to stick with it week after week for years.

The entire 6th season of Gossip Girl met the criteria to be classified as a war crime. I'm still recovering 12 years later.

r4 lol. I love you sometimes.

House of Cards AFTER season 2.

^ Throw in the 4and 5th season of Angel, as well.

I will never forgive Joss Whedon for how how he butchered Cordelia's (Charisma Carpenter) character. And per the actress, it seems Joss is completely bitch made and did it to "punish" her.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER repeats used to air daily on Canadian TV in the late afternoon. Never watched it first-run. My mother-in-law loved it so I gave it a try when she was staying with us. Naaaah. It was crap from the beginning.

We bonded over BIG BANG THEORY and our love for Penny and Beverly, and our hatred for Bernadette.

r94 So It wasn't a waste of time was it cunt?

No fatso @ r95, but YOU are.

r4 Thank you Teafake.

KITTYDYKE, I think you made a mistake.

Over what r98, thanking Teafake or giving up on Survivor? LOL

I have nearly all of Teacake's aliases blocked.

You cited your own post.

Well, this is awkward. Teawhatever must be on the sauce again. Shocker.

Capote and the Swans. I was so looking forward to it, have read most of the biographies and Vanity Fair articles over the years. But I lost interest around episode 3.

Anyone remember John from Cincinnati, HBO's supposedly high-concept drama about a surfing family and some supernatural stuff thrown in for good measure? Poor Rebecca DeMornay.

Here and Now was another HBO dud. Alan Ball shat the bed after Six Feet Under and midway through True Blood.

The Staircase

Worth it just to see the mediocre Toni Collette attacked in the head by an owl.

Thirtysomething after Gary died.

r103 I 2nd that about True Blood. Its another Lost in that it completely went off the rails 3/4 of the way before its finale. But it still remained entertaining campy fun. Lost just became a chore.

The Staircase wasn't perfect but I got a some enjoyment out of hearing Colin Firth say "I hope you're ready to get that ass fucked" in a WASP drawl.

Parker Posey's accent was amusing as well.

The Old Man, Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow notwithstanding.

r100 I meant to cite r91/Teeflake. Thanks.

"One Day at a Time," dammit!

Jesus Christ, give it a rest.

...And Just Like That. Awful.

[quote] Succession was amazing. Sorry for those who were just not quite there intellectually to appreciate it.

Sorry for those who think Succession was Shakespeare,

Agree. It was engaging, but it was variation on a theme for 80% of it with pithy one-liners.

Guiding Light - the Peapack years.

Oh great, P&G soap troll infestation.

I abandon series easily. There are so many, and I always find some that are entertaining. So why would I stick with the ones that become shitty? I'll put up with a few shitty episodes. If those episodes take me to the end of the season, I'm out for good.

I have found over my long life that many show business endeavors do not improve in concept and audience engagement. The magic is there from the get go, or it isn't. Execution by the people involved CAN improve but the concept needs to be solid.

This is often true in pop music as it is in series. Madonna's first album for example. She nailed her concept, even if she was rough around the edges.

Lost - Went on wayyy too long. I just wanted it to be OVER. I felt like I was being held hostage. It was def Stockholm syndrome going on.

Walking Dead-After they killed Carl, despite Negan mugging and Rick leaving, I stuck around until they introduced the daughter wearing Carl's cowboy hat. I hate kids.

The Bear - The first season was great. They really started to feel themselves in the second season. Unwatchable.

White Lotus - Couldn't make it through the second season. I will watch the 3rd b/c of Parker Posey.

SATC - Have NO desire to watch the reboot.

Euphoria - First season was okay. Couldn't make it through the second. I started feeling old and regretful.

Most of the Marvel live-action shows—I don't think I've finished watching any of them except for WandaVision and The Defenders. The thing is... I'm a comic book guy, but a lot of these shows just don't translate well into live-action because writers have to create soap operas around the good stuff to appeal to non-comic book fans. It's FUCKING brutal.

The list of shows which didn't end up a gigantic waste of time would be a lot shorter.

I thought The Staircase was very good. The only issue I had with it is that Colin Firth is just too dignified and classy to pull off playing the repulsive Michael Peterson—who has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

I stop watching if a show turns out to suck.

r74, there was a moment during the Battlestar Galactica finale where I thought, "Oh, shit, I don't like where this is headed" so I bailed right then. I'd gotten enough closure without it leaving a bad aftertaste.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl, an initially appealing series with the talented Billie Piper, has one of the least satisfying endings I’ve ever seen.

The Handmaid’s Tale also started sucking after the first season or so when they deviated from the source material and Elisabeth Moss’s acting became increasingly one-note. You could make a long montage of scenes of her glaring at the camera and swearing.

On the reality side, Project Runway is only enjoyable if you can accept the fact that the judges and production often have a winner in mind when the show starts, and for everyone else the competition will be an occasionally entertaining exercise in futility.

In other words, has anyone wasted their time completely spending 10 hours watching something on TV?

Oh, my.

I used to be addicted to Project Runway till I realized 80% of the show was forced fake lame filler drama. It wasnt even interesting fake drama. After I realized that, I would watch just till the 1st challenge winner then skip all the way to the final runway show. The only thing I cared about was judging the designs.

RuPaul's Drag Race after it moved to VH1.

Helloooooooo!

Right back at ya, Kelsey!!

I rapidly lost interest in that 7 People Problem show- It was SO boring that I cannot even remember the name? 2 Body Problem? 2 episodes and I was like I could not give a fuck less where this is going...

I could not even get through that one withthat Canadian Actor who has the creepy family.. Its like a horror series about a family-- Jesus Christ - I cannot remember that one either. That one I have to look up now- Carla Gugino was in it? Fuck hold on-

Fall of the House of Usher. And I love horror and the horror genre...

I AM going to check out The Bear and Presumed Innocent this Christmas.

I am OBSESSED with Industry and I am so glad that I stuck with that one. Obsessed.

AHS: Delicate. Stopped after Episode 3. What a POS, ditto The Stand miniseries.

If anything, Industry got better and more interesting as it went along.

Lost was great for a couple of seasons, but then it became a convoluted mess.

Twin Peaks was excellent for about a half dozen episodes, but then I think they had no idea what to do after that point.

Westworld had a riveting season 1 - and it should have stopped there and just been a miniseries. But then season 2 came along and it became idiotic.

Under the Dome was another one that should have should have just been a miniseries, but it kept going on and on - until I got to the point that I had to give up on it.

Sometimes a bad TV show that mysteriously persists can create its own fascination.

Another vote for Palm Royale. It was so ridiculous that I just stopped caring. Kristin Wiig was HORRIBLE in this, and I usually like her, but there was nothing interesting enough about her character to pull me in. She’s the lead, but she played it like a cartoon character. Her performance threw the whole miniseries off it’s axis. I’d had high hopes, based on the look from the previews, but there was so much wrong with this show that it became a chore to get to the end.

Apples Never Fall. It’s implausible even in terms of a domestic thriller. Annette Bening and Sam Neill couldn’t save it. It was clearly made on the cheap and filled with mediocre Australian supporting actors.

R134 My issue with Wiig is she seems to be avoiding what put her on the map. Nobody wants to see her calm and demure. She should do what other SNL cast members have done since they left the show. Lean into their SNL oeuvre but make some adjustments.

R85, I remember watching HIMYM at first, thinking this was a much improved Friends. But, by the end, I felt the opposite. Both shows suffer from the American flaw of wanting every show to last forever and beating premises to death.

R86, you are correct. Friends was only good for a short amount of time but that is so typical for most American sitcoms. At worst, Friends is stupid but, at best, it's like comfort food. It's probably not good for you but it makes you feel comfortable.

The Stand miniseries from 2020. Everyone was just a little too clean, attractive and friendly. They should have set it in the late 70s and made everyone really grubby and desperate. Heard and Skarsgård were totally miscast. Ezra Miller seems like the only one who read the book and he took it WAY too far. Very disappointing waste of time.

The 1994 miniseries is much better.

X Files. I like it in general but the whole arc kept getting muddier and muddier until it made no sense at all. Here’s hoping Chris Carter stays out of the next incarnation (fat chance) and gives someone else a whack at it.

Law and Order SVU has suffered so much in its longevity, it’s now a scowling Hungarian woman waddling and whispering around crime scenes.

R139, SVU can only recycle itself so many times. The original law and order can keep going because it isn't limited to "SVU" crimes.

R138 I agree, the 1994 miniseries was much better. I bought that on DVD some years back and I have watched it a few times.