# Worst TV Shows, or-Why we call it The Idiot Box **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559 "2013-03-21T18:56:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [March 21, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/21 "2013-03-21T19:58:01Z")
Hee Haw Honeys (Kathie Lee Gifford’s only sitcom in which she was a regular, IIRC) Down to Earth (originally just on WTBS, but it was a series) No Ordinary Family (like Terra Nova, this had an excellent premise that was ruined by making it a family drama with a gimmick) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/22 "2013-03-21T19:58:47Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > My Mother The Car, a periennial favorite in this category, was a real show I really saw with my own eyes. The male lead, if memory serves, was Jerry Van Dyke, but Dick himself couldn’t have improved it any. I think Jerry played Dick’s dumb brother in one episode - My Mother the Car shows this was actually true in real life. Little known fact - Jerry had a cameo in Mary Poppins - as soot. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/23 "2013-03-21T19:58:53Z")
There are a lot. But the one that popped into my head first is _Jerseylicious_. I watched it because its filmed pretty close to here and I knew someone who was in the cast. Even with that I couldn’t get through an episode. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/24 "2013-03-21T20:05:11Z")
I’ll go with three hated shows of my youth: 1. [Farmgate](http://regina.ctvnews.ca/farmgate-1.567664) 2. [100 Huntley Street](http://www.100huntley.com/) 3. [Tales of the Wizard of Oz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Wizard_of_Oz) By the way, I’ve seen episodes of [The Trouble with Tracy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tracy), a legendarily bad TV show, but I didn’t mind it that much. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/25 "2013-03-21T20:06:00Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > _[Lost Saucer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Saucer)_! > > … Ugh, yeah, that’s it. Jeez, everything from Sid and Marty Krofft should be on the list (Far Out Space Nuts? HR Pufnstuff? The Bugaloos?). ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/26 "2013-03-21T20:10:37Z")
I _actually watched_ an episode of [Cavemen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavemen_(TV_series)), yep, the one with the cavemen from the insurance commercial. It was the worst thing I’d ever seen. It’s driving all other bad shows out of my mind at the moment. ---
**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, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/27 "2013-03-21T20:14:14Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I think Jerry played Dick’s dumb brother in one episode - My Mother the Car shows this was actually true in real life. > > Little known fact - Jerry had a cameo in Mary Poppins - as soot. Jerry Van Dyke appeared as Dick’s banjo-playing brother on more than one episode of _The Dick Van Dyke Show_. He much later had a regular role on _Coach_. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/28 "2013-03-21T20:17:22Z")
There was one, after “Car 54 Where Are You”, called “It’s About Time” (I can still hear the theme song in my ear). It starred Joe E Ross (another candidate for the thread about performers with middle initials) as a caveman; I think Imogene Coca was his wife. It actually aired 26 episodes (one full season, in those days). I’m not sure how many I watched, but it sings through history as one of the worst wastes of time (at least before reality TV) ever broadcast. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QebFI-3zMO0)’s the pilot, complete with dinosaurs and cavemen existing at the same time, for those who have nothing better to do. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/29 "2013-03-21T20:25:24Z")
1. My Mother the Car 2. Manimal 3. Cavemen I am not certain that Cavemen actually existed in real life or whether I just had a very long nightmare. ---
**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, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/30 "2013-03-21T20:35:45Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > There was one, after “Car 54 Where Are You”, called “It’s About Time” (I can still hear the theme song in my ear). It starred Joe E Ross (another candidate for the thread about performers with middle initials) as a caveman; I think Imogene Coca was his wife. It actually aired 26 episodes (one full season, in those days). I’m not sure how many I watched, but it sings through history as one of the worst wastes of time (at least before reality TV) ever broadcast. > > [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QebFI-3zMO0)’s the pilot, complete with dinosaurs and cavemen existing at the same time, for those who have nothing better to do. > Roddy Interesting thing about that series – partway through it changed from “Mack and Heck the astronauts stuck in the prehistoric past” into “Mack and Heck bring back the stoneage family (Joe E Ross, Imogene Coca, and the Pretty Daughter) to the present”. Lower production costs, I guess. And they didn’t have to pay to use the old clips of dinosaurs from the movie _Dinosaurus_ anymore. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/31 "2013-03-21T20:42:16Z")
1. _Martin_, starring Martin Lawrence. A sitcom that was on for a number of years, is still playing in reruns on BET or its equivalent, without ever being funny ONCE. 2. _The Suite Life of Zack & Cody/The Suite Life on Deck_. Disney Channel’s dreckiest alleged sitcom, which I was forced to watch while baby-sitting. It made _Saved by the Bell_ look like _Masterpiece Theatre_. 3. I don’t know. I’ve watched a lot a lousy TV, but I’ve blocked most of it from my memory. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/32 "2013-03-21T20:42:25Z")
1. [Out of the Blue](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078667/?ref_=tt_ov_inf)- a truly awful spinoff of Happy Days (sorta kinda- same producers and they worked the lead character into an episode) about an angel who takes care of some orphans left with their aunt, a pre-Designing Women Dixie Carter 2. Tyler Perry’s House of Payne- one of the only sitcoms that I cannot even have on in the house; assemble any 5 people and I absolutely guarantee you they could make up a sitcom as they went along and do it better than this crap. Makes the Madea movies look like ‘The Best of Carol Burnett’. 3. Gomer Pyle- I was thinking of this when Jim Nabors was in the news recently for his Li’l Gay Weddin’- for a long running show this was one of the lamest things ever on TV. A Marine in the late '60s never gets sent even to another base (let alone Vietnam) and if a member of his barracks says something about a girl’s slip it’s considered racy. Sets that would embarrass Gary Marshall (who I love as a performer but hate as a producer) and plots so simple you could understand just fine if you were watching the Swedish or Hindi dubbed version. Take the folksiest lamest version of post-Barney _Andy Griffith Show_ and run it for six years. ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/33 "2013-03-21T20:45:10Z")
Ok, for the other two I’d have to say [Cop Rock](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLm5Sn1cMyQ) and [Out of this World](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMenbi07NFY), which I had to look up but I knew it as the one that played before Small Wonder. Small Wonder was genius next to this. ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/34 "2013-03-21T20:46:13Z")
Anyone else remember something called Detective School, with a post- Emergency! Randy Mantooth? It was allegedly to be a comedy. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/35 "2013-03-21T20:46:17Z")
1. Small Wonder 2. Out of This World 3. Big Bang Theory ---
**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:** [March 21, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/36 "2013-03-21T20:46:53Z")
**The Walking Dead** - A genre that’s already been milked to death before the first episode aired, a mediocre cast portraying a bunch of underdeveloped characters with murky motivations, aimless episodes and half-baked storylines, lots and lots and lots and lots of dull staring off into space as the producers desperately stall for time between the big set-pieces. This show basically seems like a zombie - a soul-less husk mindlessly lurching along, with no goal or direction, inexplicably, into nowhere. It kind of burns me up that a great, smart show like **Enlightened** gets axed, while garbage like this breaks all kinds of ratings records. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/37 "2013-03-21T20:53:54Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Anything starting with “Tyler Perry Presents” This, most certainly! Maury Povich - I had the misfortune of seeing this when my spousal unit was home recuperating from surgery and for some unknown reason (I suspect the painkillers he was taking) he actually enjoyed watching this show. The Nanny. My ears bleed just to think of it. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/38 "2013-03-21T20:54:35Z")
I know “Manimal” gets kicked around a lot on lists like this, but it’s funny – I actually remember liking it when it was on. I was 12 at the time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’s horrible – it’s just interesting to remember that my taste wasn’t always as impeccable as it is now. 😉 My contributions: 1. [Monty](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108863/combined), which was a short-lived show in which Henry Winkler played a conservative talk-show house. Terrible. 2. [Madman of the People](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108846/combined) – Dabney Coleman was excellent in Buffalo Bill, and pretty good in Slap Maxwell, but he went downhill fast after that. 3. [Woops!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103583/combined), a post-apocalyptic sitcom. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/39 "2013-03-21T20:55:33Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > There was one, after “Car 54 Where Are You”, called “It’s About Time” (I can still hear the theme song in my ear). It starred Joe E Ross (another candidate for the thread about performers with middle initials) as a caveman; Trivia: Joe E Ross was a “blue comic” before and after _Car 54_ and was one of the most hated co-stars of all time on both of his shows. Charlotte Rae referred to him only as “that dreadful man” in the commentary on _Car 54_ and Fred Gwynne refused to be in the same room with him when they weren’t shooting; had _Car 54_ lasted another year he would not have been on it. Andy Kaufman somehow encountered him a couple of times (I don’t know if they performed the same venue or Kaufman just saw him perform) and Ross was one of the inspirations for Kaufman’s Tony Clifton. (Ross’s bringing unattractive prostitutes to the set was worked into Kaufman’s Clifton schtick.) ---
**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:** [March 21, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559/40 "2013-03-21T21:15:55Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > 1. [Out of the Blue](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078667/?ref_=tt_ov_inf)- a truly awful spinoff of Happy Days (sorta kinda- same producers and they worked the lead character into an episode) about an angel who takes care of some orphans left with their aunt, a pre-Designing Women Dixie Carter. _Happy Days_ only in the sense that _Mork and Mindy_ was a spinoff of that series. Robin Williams guested in the pilot and, like the rest of the show, was painfully unfunny. David Brenner played the angel (“Random”) and was even worse. Mork and Random were apparently cosmic buddies of some sort, but the guest shot was obviously an attempt to liven up a lame series and win ratings. I remember watching that episode and wanting to fling my television set off my balcony afterwards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-tv-shows-or-why-we-call-it-the-idiot-box/653559.md?page=3)