🔗 Share this article This Floating Poo Was Way Too Meaningful! These Are the Television Letdowns of the Year. Looking back, we consider the television landscape of the past year, a handful of series stand out not for their excellence, but for their spectacular shortcomings. Ranging from cringe-inducing spin-offs to confusingly poor docuseries, here are the productions that had us utterly bewildered or simply reaching for the remote. And Just Like That How to start with this love/hate follow-up? Burdened with dreadful scripts, painful arcs (we demand better for Miranda!), and a mere 71 seconds of fan-favourite Samantha, the show fought to justify its existence. For a moment, as the third series started, it looked like it had finally found its groove. Then arrived an installment centered on Seema’s natural deodorant. No wonder the showrunner declared this would be the last season. It ended on a low point; the closeup of Miranda’s loo flooded with poo was simply too symbolic. Still, fans undeniably had a hoot picking apart every single “what on earth?” episode. And as Carrie – once again single – twirled around her palatial townhouse to Barry White, who didn’t release a small sob? The Kim Kardashian Drama ‘Can Kim Kardashian act? The answer is a resounding no.’ But that was practically the least of this show's problems. The recipient of a exceedingly uncommon zero star assessment, it was hard to know where to begin enumerating the flaws. The laughably wooden dialogue? The tedious glorification of affluence and materialism? The seemingly wilful procession of cliches? Acting so poor they felt borderline spiteful? Suffice it to say “each and every one” and forget about this show again. However, a second season has been commissioned, so we’re probably going to have to. AKA Charlie Sheen Given the legal troubles, domestic violence claims and fatherly failures, it’s reasonable to say Charlie Sheen has been a troubled figure. Not you’d really have known it from this three-part documentary which chuckled along at Sheen’s various bouts of self-destructive excess while struggling to tell us a single thing we didn’t already know. Rather, it felt as if this loose cannon was being indulged, so any sympathy this series might evoke should be saved for the people who have had to suffer proximity with this charming but dismissive narcissist. The Supercomputer Drama Naturally we knew it was preposterous from the outset: a thriller 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 barely reacted when his character died, and the other ultimately hacking Charlie with an axe … in super slow-motion. Talk about admitting defeat. MobLand Dodgy figures meeting in deserted boxing gyms? A certain band's Firestarter blaring in club scenes? The late 90s called and demands its gangland drama back. Actually, that is harsh on the crime shows of the late 90s. Many seem a little dated now, but at least they didn’t endure the ignominy of having to indulge baffling accents. But there were plenty of other issues. Primarily that it was just profoundly dull; a dispute over drug-selling territory between various cockney rogues which felt a bit basic. With Love, Meghan Given the extent to which she grinds the gears of the nation’s performatively angry commentators, it’s temptingly tempting to admire the Duchess of Sussex’s various forays into quaint homemaking as intentional statements. But then you watch them and are compelled to concede that in this case, they might have a point. It’s like watching a lifestyle magazine animated; a meme for evening drinks with ideas of grandeur; a procession of sleeping dogs, buzzing beehives, sentimental sayings and pointless crafting “hacks” you’ll forget instantly. All supported by vast, largely undeserved wealth. Ugh. Victoria Beckham There are clearly interesting things to be discussed about both Victoria Beckham and her struggles with career, identity, self-acceptance. But for some reason, this documentary series chose not to explore them. Instead, the experience was akin to consuming a sales brochure. She clearly has every right to resent what she describes as her “miserable cow” image. But unfortunately, she didn’t 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 playing dead and a sharp-tongued personality overseeing her inheritance. What more could you ask for? As contestants battled it out, there was plenty of betrayal and squabbling. But the rules quickly became incomprehensible: it’s still too complicated to detail what exactly was happening. Even more regrettably, we only saw brief appearances of the star via prerecorded videos. The show ended up reeking of a production that was trying way too hard to emulate something far greater than it. Too Much How do you succeed a show that captured a generation? The expectation was enormous for this starry romantic comedy about Jessica, a rosy-eyed New Yorker who arrives in London with a shattered romance. The star took her biggest role by the horns and was a delight to watch, reveling in Austen levels of romantic notions. But it was all very glossy and, ironically, was not enough. Plus, the sheer amount of celebrity cameos involved felt icky. Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping Not even good enough to be ‘uneven’. Given the shrewd recruitment of talented younger comics, hopes were high. But sadly, most of it fell flat. A particular sketch was a single joke milked to a husk but repeated in every episode. One star seemed too willing to slip into a well-known ranting mode. The writing room sketches, in contrast, simply inspired the thought that they should probably have remained in there a while longer. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox This retelling of the story of Amanda Knox was executive produced by Amanda Knox and pretty much exclusively presented the viewpoint of Amanda Knox. So, while there undoubtedly is an compelling drama to be made about the tragic 2007 murder, this isn’t it. The material needed to be treated sensitively. Instead, the series laboured awkwardly to find the right tone, lurching from oddly breezy, somewhat stylised farce to inevitably, real-life horror. Twisted? Arguably. A complete mess? Very much so. The Maths Genius Thriller We love the star … but did we believe him playing the most brilliant maths genius in history, a man so intelligent he’s on the verge of a discovery that could ruin society? Nope! This globe-trotting thriller about government agencies targeting – and eliminating – intellectuals frankly got more farcical by the second. Formulaic nonsense. The Bonnie Blue Documentary This hagiography followed the content creator renowned for sexual exploits as she undertook her most extreme challenge yet. What on earth would possess her? What we wanted was far greater interrogation of her true psyche, plus those of the men in the line. They could at least have interviewed the now-famous mum who appeared to drag her son away from the queue. What we got was disturbing shots and absolutely no interrogation of her notoriety whatsoever. And to think, the filmmaker has a young daughter too.