# The 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2002, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191 "2002-07-16T05:28:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/21 "2002-07-17T00:35:43Z")
Why isn’t “The Gong Show” on that list? ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/22 "2002-07-17T01:04:41Z")
psrtly, they ain’t going to list a top 50 best show (Buffy) as one of the worst 50. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/23 "2002-07-17T01:31:17Z")
**Hogan’s Heroes** was on TV while I was being born. I asked my older brothers if they were watching it then, but they said they were already in bed. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/24 "2002-07-17T02:04:56Z")
Baby Bob should be closer to the top of the list. And I think Gomer Pyle should be on that list, maybe around number 3. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/25 "2002-07-17T03:58:38Z")
Looking at this thread title, a few shows immediately came to mind. Two of them were on the list, and another one was mentioned. AKA Pablo Manimal Small Wonder More that have not been mentioned: [Street Hawk](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0088618) [Misfits of Science](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0088568) [Jennifer Slept Here](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0085038) [Thunder in Paradise](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0108958) Yeah, Hulk Hogan driving a robot boat and fighting crime. That gets my vote for # 1. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/26 "2002-07-17T14:11:35Z")
DragonballZ and all its wannabees Lousy animation over acting too big of mouths predictable story lines (kill Goku… that will be a surprise) too many screeching females… but hey my SIX year old likes it ---
**Author:** ![funguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@funguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funguy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/27 "2002-07-17T14:19:52Z")
if my memory serves me correcty i would say one my worst memories wuld be a show called mantra and to make things worse followed by sonny spoon gotta see tv on nbc ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/28 "2002-07-17T14:40:28Z")
I never particularly cared for the show but it didn’t seem any worse to me then many others. I don’t see how something that successful worldwide could be one of the 50 worst shows. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/29 "2002-07-17T15:00:15Z")
1. Holmes & Yoyo (ABC, 1976) 2. Pink Lady…and Jeff (NBC, 1980) I _liked_ these. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/30 "2002-07-17T15:02:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Nome \* > Hogan’s Heroes was made twenty years after WW2. Could we be watching a sitcom based on Serbian atrocities by 2010? If that’s likely then maybe number 5 is too high. If it’s unlikely then No. 1 is not high enough. Exactly how was _Hogan’s Heros_ was about Nazi atrocities? I certainly don’t remember it that way. IIRC the whole thing was about allied POWs. The Gestapo were portrayed as the bad guys, especially to Klink and Schultz. You could even argue that it took great steps in bridging race and ethnic barriers since it brought English, French and Americans (and occasionally even Germans) together for a common goal. It even had, Kinch, a black man as a primary operator in the prisoner underground. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/31 "2002-07-17T15:42:24Z")
Wasn’t _Hogan’s Heroes_ loosely based on the William Holden film [Stalag 17](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0046359)? ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/32 "2002-07-17T15:54:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Wasn’t _Hogan’s Heroes_ loosely based on the William Holden film [Stalag 17](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0046359)? \*\* Pretty much, though IIRC, the producers got the idea from a stage production of S17. Apparently, the dark humor that derived from the POW’s attempts at keeping morale up appealed to the producers, so they went with the idea for a TV series. Bob Crane, in promoting the show on the talk circuit before it aired, said it was “somewhere between **Combat** and **McHale’s Navy** , with a bit of **The Man from U.N.C.L.E.** thrown in.” He’s got a point: watch the early episodes sometime – they’re a bit more serious in tone than the bulk of the series. I find it ironic that both Werner Klemperer (Klink) and John Banner (Schultz) emigrated to America in the mid-thirties to escape the Nazis. Talk about being able to leave your past behind, but your past never leaves you. Worse than being in the Witness Relocation Program. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/33 "2002-07-17T16:05:51Z")
> [@](#): > > ## quote: > > ## Originally posted by Eve Wasn’t Hogan’s Heroes loosely based on the William Holden film Stalag 17? > > Pretty much, though IIRC, the producers got the idea from a stage production of S17. Just for the record, **Stalag 17** was a play before it was a film. It was written by a couple of guys who had been in a POW camp, so they knew whereof they spoke. Their camp was an enlisted man’s camp, not an officer’s camp like Stalg Luft Drei (the one in **The Great Escape** and **The Wooden Horse** ), so conditions were even worse. The play differs somewhat from the film, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/34 "2002-07-17T16:23:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MGibson \* > **I never particularly cared for the show but it didn’t seem any worse to me then many others. I don’t see how something that successful worldwide could be one of the 50 worst shows.** > [@](#): > > [TV Gude Online](http://www.tvguide.com/magazine/issues/020715/magftr.asp) > … Baywatch made international stars of hunk o’ driftwood David Hasselhoff and human flotation device Pamela Anderson, the undisputed King and Queen of Junk TV. For that, we owe the show at least some mouth-to-mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/35 "2002-07-17T16:34:40Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Eve_ > Wasn’t Hogan’s Heroes loosely based on the William Holden film Stalag 17? Not according to the TV Guide article (all I have is a hardcopy a colleague brought in) > [@](#): > > Hogan’s Heroes #5 > The original premise was an American prison overrun by a gang of crafty cons, but the networks thought the idea was tasteless. So when co-creator Bernard Fein came across the book _Von Ryan’s Express_ a mere 20 years after Hitler’s suicide, he moved the action to a Nazi POW camp. CBS liked the idea. So did Bing Crosby, whose production company bought it. So did the viewers. And so did TV Guide, which featured the show on several covers. Let’s all just blame post-traumatic stress I can’t find _anything_ in the write up that justifies a #5 ranking. My guess is that one of the editors had a burr under his saddle about the show and #5 is the result. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/36 "2002-07-17T18:02:50Z")
Who can forget the wacky, loveable Colonel Klink (Werner Klemperor-the ironic thing was that he was Jewish-and his father (the famous conductor) was a refugee from Nazi germany). Or loveable Sergeant Schultz (“I know nothing”). So what if Bob Crane met his end ina rather kinky way…the show was funny! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/37 "2002-07-17T18:23:59Z")
Forced To Wear A Mullet - The Susan Smegma Story. Locked In A Nordstroms Dressing Room - The Dianne Dyan Story. Made To Watch Crappy Lifetime Movies - The DMark Story. and anything that looks, sounds or appears to be like those sappy crappy films. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/38 "2002-07-17T18:28:37Z")
My wife and I have had this discussion many times before. I think we have settled on the two worst shows during our lifetime. The first is Mama’s Family with the execrable Vicki Lawrence. My big brother used to hold me down and turn up Mama’s family to top volume so I had to hear that voice. God save us all from the fact it is still in reruns. The second is Rags to Riches, an Annie ripoff with hordes of singing orphans. It was like Newsies for the small screen. At any one time there might be one child cute enough to get away with signing. This was chorus of ragamuffins bellowing out five songs a show. Truly the hardest piece of television to watch. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/39 "2002-07-17T20:03:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mouthbreather \* > \*\*[Misfits of Science](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0088568) \*\* Hey, now. Don’t you dare dis the Misfits! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191/40 "2002-07-17T20:15:19Z")
Oh yes, Fruitbat…Mama’s Family was truly wretched. Vicki Lawrence was just here in Las Vegas at the Orleans hotel and her show was advertised as being half Vicki in concert and the other half was Vicki as the “hilarious” Mama from Mama’s Family. Gee - bet Mr. & Mrs. Fruitbat wish they were here for that, huh? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-50-worst-tv-shows-of-all-time/119191.md?page=3)