🔗 Share this article

As we reflect on the TV offerings of the past year, a selection of shows stand out not for their excellence, but for their spectacular failures. From awkward spin-offs to confusingly bad docuseries, here are the productions that left us scratching our heads or just reaching for the remote.

The 'Sex and the City' Sequel

How to start with this love/hate spin-off? Plagued with woeful writing, cringe-inducing arcs (we demand better for Miranda!), and a mere 71 seconds of beloved Samantha, the show fought to find its footing. For a moment, as the third series began, it looked like it had finally hit its stride. Then arrived an installment all about Seema’s natural deodorant. Little surprise the creator announced this would be the last season. It concluded on a low point; the closeup of Miranda’s loo flooded with poo was simply too symbolic. Yet, viewers certainly found joy dissecting every single “what on earth?” moment. And as Carrie – once again single – danced around her palatial townhouse to Barry White, who couldn't release a small sob?

The Kim Kardashian Drama

‘Is Kim Kardashian an actress? Of course she can’t.’

But that was practically the smallest of this drama's issues. The subject of a very rare no-star assessment, it was difficult to know where to start enumerating the flaws. The hilariously leaden writing? The mind-numbing glorification of wealth and consumption? The almost wilful parade of tropes? Performances so poor they felt borderline malicious? Let’s just say “all of the above” and forget about this show again. Except, a second season has been commissioned, so we’re probably going to have to.

AKA Charlie Sheen

Given the legal troubles, abuse claims and parental failures, it’s fair to say Charlie Sheen has been a troubled figure. Not you’d truly have gleaned it from this multi-part documentary which chuckled along at Sheen’s various episodes of self-destructive hedonism while struggling to tell us anything we didn’t already know. Instead, it felt as if this loose cannon was being indulged, so any pity this show might evoke should be saved for the people who have had to suffer proximity with this charming but dismissive egotist.

The Iris Affair

Of course we knew it was preposterous from the get-go: a thriller about a supercomputer known as Charlie Big Potatoes that could either solve global crises – or destroy all of humanity. We persevered out of sheer love for its stars … but by the end, it felt like even they had stopped bothering. One barely reacted when his character died, and the other ultimately hacking Charlie with an axe … in super slow-motion. Talk about giving up the ghost.

MobLand

Shady characters convening in empty boxing gyms? The Prodigy’s Firestarter jackhammering away in club scenes? The late 90s called and demands its crime drama back.

Actually, that is unfair on the crime shows of the late 90s. Many look a bit 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 boring; a dispute over drug-selling territory between various London rogues which felt rather simplistic.

The Meghan Markle Series

Considering the extent to which she grinds the gears of certain ostentatiously angry commentators, it’s almost easy to admire the Duchess of Sussex’s televised ventures into twee homemaking as deliberate provocations. But then you view them and are compelled to admit that actually, they may have a point. It’s like watching a lifestyle catalogue animated; a meme for evening drinks with ideas of grandeur; a procession of sleeping dogs, buzzing beehives, Hallmark platitudes and pointless crafting “tips” you’ll forget instantly. All underpinned by immense, mostly unearned wealth. Ugh.

Victoria Beckham

There are obviously interesting things to be said about both Victoria Beckham and her struggles with career, identity, self-worth. But for some reason, this three-part series opted not to explore them. Instead, the experience was like consuming a sales brochure. She clearly has every right to bridle at what she describes as her “miserable cow” image. But unfortunately, she didn’t do herself any favours with this guarded letdown of a series.

The Inheritance

It should have been the next big hit – except even camper, with a glamorous star playing dead and a well-known personality managing her inheritance. What more could you ask for? As players battled it out, there was plenty of betrayal and arguing. But the rules quickly became bewildering: it’s still too complicated to explain what precisely was happening. Even more regrettably, we only saw glimpses of the star via filmed videos. The show ended up smelling of a production that was trying way too hard to live up to something way beyond it.

Too Much

How do you succeed a show that captured a generation? The expectation was immense for this glitzy romcom about Jessica, a hopeful New Yorker who lands in London with a broken heart. The star took her biggest role by the horns and was joyous to watch, reveling in Jane Austen levels of romantic notions. But it was all very slick and, ironically, was insufficient. Plus, the sheer amount of famous cameos involved felt uncomfortable.

The Sketch Show Return

Not good enough to be ‘uneven’.

Given the shrewd recruitment of gifted emerging comics, expectations were high. But sadly, most of it didn’t land. A recurring sketch was a one-note joke stretched to a husk but repeated in every episode. One star seemed too ready to slip into a well-known irate mode. The behind-the-scenes sketches, meanwhile, simply provoked the idea that they should probably have stayed in there a while longer.

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

This dramatisation of the story of Amanda Knox was executive produced by Amanda Knox and pretty much exclusively showcased the perspective of Amanda Knox. So, while there probably is an compelling drama to be made about the horrific 2007 murder, this isn’t it. The material needed to be handled sensitively. Rather, the series laboured awkwardly to find the right voice, lumbering from strangely jaunty, slightly stylised farce to inevitably, real-life horror. Twisted? Arguably. A complete mess? Absolutely.

Prime Target

We love the lead actor … but did we believe him playing the greatest maths genius in history, a man so smart he’s on the verge of a breakthrough that could destabilise society? No! This international thriller about secret services targeting – and killing off – academics honestly got more absurd by the second. Silliness-by-numbers.

1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story

This hagiography followed the online personality notorious for sexual exploits as she undertook her most extreme challenge yet. What on earth would motivate her? What we wanted was far greater examination of her true psychology, plus those of the men in the line. They could at least have spoken to the now-famous mum who showed up to drag her son out of the queue. What we got was disturbing imagery and absolutely no interrogation of her infamy whatsoever. And to think, the documentary-maker has a young daughter too.