# Worst TV show of all time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428 "2011-01-21T06:37:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/121 "2011-03-17T19:06:31Z")
> [@tingbudong](#): > > Short-lived early 80’s television series [The Master](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_%28TV_series%29). > > Strangely enough Tim Van Patten went on to become a fairly good writer. What was up with the ferret? That was just weird. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/122 "2011-03-18T00:43:19Z")
> [@tingbudong](#): > > Short-lived early 80’s television series [The Master](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_%28TV_series%29). > > Strangely enough Tim Van Patten went on to become a fairly good writer. Actually what made that show stand out was Sho Kosugi was the main bad guy, and whoever was Van Cleef’s body double was decent. It was also during the height of the ninja craze in the US with Kosugi in several popular ninja films. > [@Marley23](#): > > In the first couple of seasons The Man Show could dumb, and it could also be a funny sendup of masculinity. After Kimmel and Carolla left, the satire went away and it was just awful. What really stood out to me about the Kimmel version was the respect the show had for women. It didn’t debase or degrade them at all. I didn’t even notice until that other jerkoff took over and all he knew how to do was to try and embarrass women. > [@Smitty](#): > > I stumbled across **Two and a Half Men** once, not knowing what it was. I honestly thought it was a dead pan parody of bad sitcoms. Once I realized that they were actually trying to be funny with the material as presented, I knew I had seen the worst show ever. Me too. I wouldn’t nominate it as the worst I’ve ever seen, but the probably the worst written comedy I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/123 "2011-03-18T01:14:45Z")
I liked _The Master._ ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/124 "2011-03-18T01:19:33Z")
Yes, Dear and According to Jim are the worst shows I can think of offhand. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/125 "2011-03-18T04:53:16Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > All of whom were played by Jewish actors, quite a few of whom either were in or lost family in the concentration camps. I know. It makes it even stranger. I used to watch it as a kid, but my Mom, a Holocaust survivor herself, would get really upset. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/126 "2011-03-20T00:20:11Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Cartoons, back in the day… We loved Warner Brothers (Bugs Bunny, etc.). To this day, I still like the non-character Warner Brothers cartoons made in the 30’s and 40’s . We adored Rocky & Bullwinkle! (hey, we weren’t stupid even as little kids). Roger Ramjet. Popeye, appallingly violent, but marvelous to look at. Even Beany & Cecil had a certain charm. And then, Hanna Barbera took over. Waiting for supper around 5 p.m., we didn’t want to watch the evening news or a game show, we wanted to watch cartoons. And what did we get but the crude, bland, primitive, witless Deputy Dawg. Hucklelberry Hound. Magilla Gorilla. Yes, and this includes f’ing Yogi Bear. Just bumbling along. Stupid voices. Lowest common denominator. Witless animated timekillers for babies! Watch a Hanna Barbera cartoon then and now, and I think: Dumbasses. Right on the money. The shows were just utterly boring and nihilistic even to the four year old that I was. If you read the Bible, it talks about the signs of the end-times–I’m certain that had Saint John seen one of these excremental works of not-art, he would have included Hanna-Barbara cartoons as the mark of the Beast. The only decent partial animation house that I pay homage to is Saint Jay & Saint Ward; their work should have inspired Hanna Barbara to do much better, but they stuck with the “Kittens-on-the-Internet” business model. You can’t excuse teh TV executives who built their swimming pools with this crap either. They remain nameless, but shall be cast into the Lake-of-Fire for their cowardice. > [@suranyi](#): > > In the same vein, but even worse: Hogan’s Heroes. A comedy set in a POW camp run by Nazis. As a kid, I loved watching the show in syndication. Somehow, two stations would show something like an hour-and-a-half on weekdays. I was pretty precocious at the time and knew far more about the Holocaust and World War II then my peers, but saw it for what it was–stupid entertainment, and the Nazis always got their comeuppance (which Werner Klemper insisted on before he would do the show). Naturally, you burn out on this , and didn’t watch an episode for, like, 30 years. When an episode was playing on TV a few years ago, I watched it for about three minutes–I had to turned it off because of the cringe factor–it was too painful to watch. Mad magazine did a cartoon satire on called _Hokum’s Heros_. I won’t give away the ending of the cartoon, but it summarized about what I felt about the show this time. As a twelve year old, though, I just didn’t have the comprehension to understand just how nasty war is. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/127 "2011-03-20T01:05:21Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > And then, Hanna Barbera took over. Waiting for supper around 5 p.m., we didn’t want to watch the evening news or a game show, we wanted to watch cartoons. And what did we get but the crude, bland, primitive, witless Deputy Dawg. Hucklelberry Hound. Magilla Gorilla. Yes, and this includes f’ing Yogi Bear. Just bumbling along. Stupid voices. Lowest common denominator. Witless animated timekillers for babies! Watch a Hanna Barbera cartoon then and now, and I think: Dumbasses. And the early Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound cartoons were Algonquin Round Table material compared with the stuff H-B mass-produced for Saturday morning from the late 60s to the 80s. It’s not for nothing that I consider Hanna-Barbera to be the McDonalds of animation. Of course, the really bad thing was that most of H-B’s Saturday morning animation rivals were even worse. ---
**Author:** ![Sakuma\_Drops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sakuma\_Drops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sakuma_Drops)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/128 "2011-03-20T02:14:27Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > And the early Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound cartoons were Algonquin Round Table material compared with the stuff H-B mass-produced for Saturday morning from the late 60s to the 80s. It’s not for nothing that I consider Hanna-Barbera to be the McDonalds of animation. > > Of course, the really bad thing was that most of H-B’s Saturday morning animation rivals were even worse. I did like one show of theirs, _The Pirates of Dark Water,_ which was produced during their twilight years of the 1990s. But they cancelled the show before all 13 treasures were found! That kinda pissed me off :mad: Still…yeah, looking at the [H-B Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna-Barbera#List_of_notable_Hanna-Barbera_productions), they’ve got a real swell rap sheet there. I noticed no less than three Scooby Doo spinoffs/reboots in the ‘80s alone. And they can kiss my ass for [Once Upon a Forest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_A_Forest), one of the most disturbing "kids’" movies ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/129 "2011-03-20T05:22:36Z")
Three’s Company ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/130 "2011-03-20T05:28:57Z")
Hazel ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/131 "2011-03-20T10:40:21Z")
After much thought, I think some games in Vince McMahon’s XFL set some sort of record for having the lowest viewership on one of the big 4 networks in history. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/132 "2011-03-21T06:44:24Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The official answer to that is [Heil Honey I’m Home.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWjCkcAmzDc) > > No contest. Do you think **Family Guy** is a bad show? Because HHIH is eerily prescient of FG. The guy even sounds like Seth MacFarlane. Sounds like it was canceled because the subject matter was repugnant to viewers, not because it was objectively bad. (Although the lighting in the opening scene is terrible.) As far as shows that are objectively bad, I remember **Buck Rogers in the 25th Century** being pretty ridiculous. And I turned off the Star Wars Holiday Special about twenty minutes in. Also, it’s a really bad idea to try to do an American version of a Japanese variety or game show. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/133 "2011-03-21T10:21:19Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > I remember Buck Rogers in the 25th Century being pretty ridiculous Any series with an episode titled **Planet of the Slave Girls** can’t be all bad.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/134 "2011-03-21T10:52:28Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > It did air in Canada. I used to watch it but _hated_ the live action stupid singer people. Mostly it was cartoons. ETA: [Looked like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TwPz4ppl3o&feature=fvw). The “Super Guillermo” commercial that Youtube aired before the clip had better production values. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/135 "2011-03-21T13:40:51Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Small Wonder. Haha, I came in here to say the same thing! Wow, first post too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/136 "2011-03-21T13:46:44Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > I believe there is an official answer to this question, **Hello Larry**. I liked the show only because\*\* I had a crush on Kim Richards.\*\* Hell Yeah! (bolding mine) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/137 "2011-03-21T19:44:08Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Do you think **Family Guy** is a bad show? Because HHIH is eerily prescient of FG. The guy even sounds like Seth MacFarlane. Sounds like it was canceled because the subject matter was repugnant to viewers, not because it was objectively bad. (Although the lighting in the opening scene is terrible.) I think \*\*Family Guy \*\*is a bad show. Really, really bad. Can’t-last-through-an-episode bad. I didn’t like \*\*Heil Honey \*\*either. 😛 > [@](#): > > As far as shows that are objectively bad, I remember **Buck Rogers in the 25th Century** being pretty ridiculous. And I turned off the Star Wars Holiday Special about twenty minutes in. Buck Rogers was okay, if you were 10. I wanted to punt that stupid robot, though. And I think a lot of prepubescent boys at the time had their first stirrings over Erin Gray. 😃 Funny thing about the Star Wars special: it actually got _better_ after 20 minutes or so. Not _good,_ mind you. It was still utter dreck. But once you got past twenty minutes of Wookies whining at each other without subtitles, the stuff with Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman was actually a step up by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Silent\_Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Silent\_Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silent_Kal)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/138 "2011-03-21T20:10:34Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > After much thought, I think some games in Vince McMahon’s XFL set some sort of record for having the lowest viewership on one of the big 4 networks in history. Didn’t the premiere game(s) actually have very high ratings? I seem to remember hearing the first broadcast set some kind of record, or at least vastly exceeded expectations. Could the XFL have set the record for most precipitous ratings drop? ---
**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:** [March 21, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/139 "2011-03-21T20:14:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Funny thing about the Star Wars special: it actually got _better_ after 20 minutes or so. Not _good,_ mind you. It was still utter dreck. But once you got past twenty minutes of Wookies whining at each other without subtitles, the stuff with Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman was actually a step up by comparison. That’s kind of like saying that hitting yourself with a hammer is preferable to driving a spike into your head, because the pain is spread out. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428/140 "2011-03-21T20:31:52Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Small Wonder. Take that back :mad:. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-show-of-all-time/568428.md?page=8)