# Worst TV show ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933 "2016-07-14T22:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/62 "2016-07-16T00:57:26Z")
> [@jim's son](#): > > “firefly” troll! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/63 "2016-07-16T01:43:25Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I nominate _Mary_. A short lived (3 episodes) 1978 [variety show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_(1978_TV_series)) hosted by Mary Tyler Moore following the success of her sitcom. > > Fairly interesting supporting cast. > > It was awwwfuuuullll. Wayne Brady’s variety show as also terrible and awkward. Far from the worst show of all time, but it was really bad. > [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I really don’t think that any show that ran for multiple seasons could even be\* in the running\* for worst ever. Well, Jerry Springer’s show has been on forever and it is total garbage. And Maury, too, though I only know Maury for the “not the daddy” thing. Scripted shows that ran multiple seasons that are the worst ever? Hard. I mentioned **Under the Dome** , but I do realize worse shows have existed. I’ve never seen **2 1/2 Men** , but it was a huge hit and was awful. Was it good at one point? Was it at least adequate? Remember\*\* Baby Bob\*\*, based on those ad with the talking baby? It ran two short seasons and was reallllly dumb. Talking baby was its only joke. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/64 "2016-07-16T12:28:39Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Wayne Brady’s variety show as also terrible and awkward. Far from the worst show of all time, but it was really bad. And yet they keep trying to revive the genre. This past year, _Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris_ lasted all of 8 episodes. When you got 3 channels (if you were lucky) and the whole family watched together on the one set in the living room, variety shows had a niche. Not anymore. Variety is dead, specialty is in. Even _Sábado Gigante_ is done. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/65 "2016-07-16T12:56:23Z")
Most American cartoons from the 1960s up until the very end of the 1980s, reaching a nadir in the 1980s. The confluence of a demand for pro-social messages (“The power of friendship!” “The power of going along to get along!”) and the deregulation of the industry leading to half-hour toy commercials really hit American animation hard. The first cartoons after that which were actually _funny_ and _intelligent_ (“The Ren & Stimpy Show”, “Beavis and Butt-Head”, “The Simpsons”) sparked quite a bit of controversy. Most sitcoms are pretty stupid, but _Three’s Company_ stands out as a particularly bad example of what moral depravity a culture can be pushed to when normal porn is artificially scarce. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/66 "2016-07-16T14:02:45Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I liked Get a Life with Chris Elliot, but most people did not. It ran a season and a half, I think. Get a Life was imaginative and a bit surreal unlike most formulaic sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/67 "2016-07-16T14:51:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > This far into the thread, and no one has mentioned the original \*\*\*Battlestar Galactica \*\*\*or _ **Buck Rogers** _? :eek: Near as I can tell, the folks at **Buck Rogers** were going for fun and kid-friendly sci-fi with lighthearted swashbuckling and sexy chicks in skintight outfits and the occasional wink to the audience, and they hired plenty of folks from the Adam West version of **Batman** just in case anyone missed the point – after a pilot episode that was so good a popcorn movie that they wound up releasing it in theaters and making a healthy amount of money; they weren’t shooting for great art, but they hit what they were aiming at. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/68 "2016-07-16T15:19:12Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I liked Get a Life with Chris Elliot, but most people did not. It ran a season and a half, I think. Get a Life was imaginative and a bit surreal unlike most formulaic sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/69 "2016-07-16T15:37:16Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Near as I can tell, the folks at **Buck Rogers** were going for fun and kid-friendly sci-fi with lighthearted swashbuckling and sexy chicks in skintight outfits and the occasional wink to the audience, and they hired plenty of folks from the Adam West version of **Batman** just in case anyone missed the point – after a pilot episode that was so good a popcorn movie that they wound up releasing it in theaters and making a healthy amount of money; they weren’t shooting for great art, but they hit what they were aiming at. I went to see that movie with bunch of SF fans the weekend it came out. We all had high expectations, and wound up groaning after about the first 20 minutes. Since it was a matinee, the cinema was packed with little kids who were just plain bored and antsy to leave. Afterwards, I caught some later episodes on TV and found them equally as bad. I make no apologies for my opinion, and I see no reason to alter it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/70 "2016-07-16T15:45:50Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Most sitcoms are pretty stupid, but _Three’s Company_ stands out as a particularly bad example of what moral depravity a culture can be pushed to when normal porn is artificially scarce. Just for the heck of it, I watched the series from beginning to end when they matinee stripped it on cable a few summers ago. Pretty lame and repetitive (like many sitcoms, there were only four or five basic situations and permutations thereof), but I don’t know if I’d go so far as to refer to it as “moral depravity.” That sounds too much like Mr Roper or Mr Furley (or even Basil Fawlty). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/71 "2016-07-16T15:50:00Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > We all had high expectations, and wound up groaning after about the first 20 minutes. By far the worst part was the disco pavane, which inspired a parody on my part, titled (surprisingly enough) “The Disco Pavane.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/72 "2016-07-16T16:38:20Z")
You want bad? I’ll give you bad. **My Mother the Car** , starring Jerry Van Dyke who owns an automobile that is the _reincarnation of his dead mother_! She talks to him through the radio. This was, of course, a comedy. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/73 "2016-07-16T16:58:44Z")
I guess it’s like picking the low-hanging fruit by nominating an old soap opera for worst ever, but while idly clicking around YouTube, I happened to stumble on this: [The Doctors](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igtqaucfDCM) Aside from being all-around bad (acting, dialogue, directing, sets, etc.), this has the single-funniest death scene I ever saw (at the end of it.) ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/74 "2016-07-16T17:08:24Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > troll! 😉 Now I know you’re joking…but I also know that there are posters here who will see something like this and try to stretch the rules by calling others “trolls” seriously, but put it this way to get away with it. So let’s just try to avoid doing it even joking like. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/75 "2016-07-16T17:09:16Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > You want bad? I’ll give you bad. **My Mother the Car** , starring Jerry Van Dyke who owns an automobile that is the _reincarnation of his dead mother_! She talks to him through the radio. This was, of course, a comedy. :eek: I’ll raise you _It’s About Time_. Never mind astronauts and cave people running around on the sets from _Gilligan’s Island_, when they came back to the 20th century, they were all sharing an apartment in _Los Angeles_! Not around Cape Canaveral or Houston where astronauts would normally be based. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/76 "2016-07-16T17:34:13Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > You want bad? I’ll give you bad. **My Mother the Car** , starring Jerry Van Dyke who owns an automobile that is the _reincarnation of his dead mother_! She talks to him through the radio. This was, of course, a comedy. :eek: Hey, I can still sing the theme song fifty years later! 🆒 On _ **MTM** _, \*\*\*My Mother the Car \*\*\* was always on the WJM schedule, I presume because of the Dick-and-Jerry van Dyke connection. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/77 "2016-07-16T17:36:02Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I’ll raise you _It’s About Time_. Never mind astronauts and cave people running around on the sets from _Gilligan’s Island_, when they came back to the 20th century, they were all sharing an apartment in _Los Angeles_! Not around Cape Canaveral or Houston where astronauts would normally be based. I can still sing the theme song for this one too after fifty years! 🆒 **Of course** they had the same sets as _ **Gilligan’s Island** _; both shows were produced by Sherwood Schwartz! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/78 "2016-07-16T17:56:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I can still sing the theme song for this one too after fifty years! 🆒 > > **Of course** they had the same sets as _ **Gilligan’s Island** _; both shows were produced by Sherwood Schwartz! It’s been less than 50 years for me. _My Mother the Car_ and _It’s About Time_ both run on weekends on Antenna TV. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/79 "2016-07-16T18:16:42Z")
I think _My Mother the Car_ was unfairly slammed at the time. Sure, the premise was bad, but so was the premise of a lot of shows. _Bosom Buddies_ anyone? (For that show they dropped the idiot drag premise at the end.) But it was just a regular so-so sitcom otherwise. Except: It had the glorious voice of Ann Sothern! Maybe people just didn’t get the Sonny Tufts references. And writers such as Allan Burns and James L. Brooks more than made up for it later. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/80 "2016-07-16T18:22:06Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I think _My Mother the Car_ was unfairly slammed at the time. Sure, the premise was bad, but so was the premise of a lot of shows. _Bosom Buddies_ anyone? (For that show they dropped the idiot drag premise at the end.) > > But it was just a regular so-so sitcom otherwise. Except: It had the glorious voice of Ann Sothern! > > Maybe people just didn’t get the Sonny Tufts references. > > And writers such as Allan Burns and James L. Brooks more than made up for it later. I thought Captain Manzini always trying to acquire the car for his collection was pretty over the top. Although if they remade the show today, he could be played by Jay Leno. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933/81 "2016-07-16T19:09:09Z")
Rewind Manchester Prep Septuplets The Ortegas Murder Police Our Little Genius These shows were so bad that they never even aired - and none are just “failed pilots”; every one of them was announced on a network schedule at some point (and at least two - Septuplets and Our Little Genius - aired commercials). Okay, Our Little Genius gets an asterisk - it wasn’t pulled because it was thought to be bad; it was pulled because it was a game show where, two weeks before its premiere, the executive producer discovered that some low-level producers may have violated federal game show tampering laws by giving “additional information” (consisting of, depending on which version of the story you hear, being told that the questions would be limited to a subset of the announced category (e.g. the show says the category is “opera,” but all of the questions will be about Wagner operas), being told some of the questions in advance, or even being told the answers) and had the show pulled. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-ever/759933.md?page=5)