With so many A-list directors and actors taking to the small screen to do TV shows recently, you would think TV shows are better than ever. While this is true for some of the very best television has to offer, it definitely isn’t a hard rule. 2017 was a great year for many different show, but also had it’s fair share of blunders. This article will look at 10 TV shows that bombed hard in 2017 and didn’t live up to the potential their cast and crew thought they should.
Some of them failed due to bad acting or a bad script, and others because there was just nothing of substance happening on the screen. Either way, there is no doubting that these 10 shows missed their mark, despite all the money and time put into them.
10. Girlboss
Netflix is normally at the top of their game and are often releasing some of the best content on TV. However, with Girlboss, they might have their first ever truly terrible show. The show was trying to say and do a lot, but it missed the mark over and over again. Britt Robertson is a talented actress and did her best, but the writing made her character far too annoying and abrasive to ever relate to. Netflix thought people would root for the main character, but instead of caring about her development, they simply rooted against her. The show was a giant waste of talent and has been cancelled after its inaugural season.
9. Chicago Justice
The “Chicago” series of TV shows is one the best and most successful on NBC — Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, etc. So when NBC announced another TV show was set to be included in the franchise, people had high hopes. Chicago Justice was a promising show about prosecutors and investigators who navigate their way through many legal issues in Chicago. However, those high hopes were quickly dashed. The show simply wasn’t very well done or interesting at all. You could tell that they were just hoping the name was enough to make it a success. It was cancelled after a single season. Also, this is one of the rare misses from Dick Wolf (the creator of Law and Order and the other “Chicago” TV shows) and it is an unfortunate black spot on his impressive resume.
8. Iron Fist
Once again, a Netflix show finds itself on this list. While Netflix did plenty of things right in 2017, they clearly had a couple of mishaps as well. One of their biggest was the Iron Fist series, part of their smaller Marvel universe. They took a comic book character that was already a little bit cheesy, and made it far worse than it already was. You simply couldn’t root for the title character and the acting was fairly subpar throughout the series. Ultimately, it was just boring and not what you would expect out of a superhero story. Unsurprisingly, the series was largely seen as a failure by critics, but even so, was granted a second season. Hopefully they can turn it around.
7. Gypsy
Wow, what was up with Netflix this year? Gypsy is yet another example of a show simply falling flat on its face. When the show was first announced, it has a ton of promise and people were pretty excited about it. The idea around the show and the actors/directors involved were both great (Naomi Watts was cast in the lead role). People were ready to love this show. However, the plot (a psychologist who secretly infiltrates the lives of her patients) ended up being boring and the mystery within was nothing special either. It wasn’t subtle at all and viewers simply had nothing to consider while watching it. Plus it was quite predictable. All in all, a pretty bad show and one that Netflix has cancelled after one season.
6. Powerless
Powerless was an interesting project, as it was a sitcom set in the DC universe but focused on a number of regular people and not superheroes. It had an interesting premise and a lot of great actors in the cast, but it simply never caught on. The creative process was seemingly always changing and the storylines were quite dull and uneventful. How do you have a superhero show with no superheroes? This show isn’t as bad as many others on this list, but it had far more potential than many of them. When it couldn’t reach that potential, it was greatly disappointing. It was cancelled after a season and the final three episodes were pulled from NBC before they even saw the light of day.
5. APB
APB had a chance to be something great. It was about a police force that had a ton of funding to get all the newest technology to catch bad guys. But instead of being satirical and pointing out the dangers of something like this (a la Robocop), they took themselves seriously. As a result, the show was nothing but your typical cop show, of which there seem to be dozens. The action sequences and drama were nothing out of the ordinary and the show was a train wreck from start to finish. It was axed after a single season, as ratings plummeted with every new episode.
4. Training Day
This show was one of those dull attempts to bring a successful movie to the small screen. While the show itself wasn’t horrific, there was little done to differentiate it from the other police procedural shows out on TV. The good qualities of the beloved film simply didn’t make it into the show and it seems like they hoped being called “Training Day” was enough to bring in fans of the movie. Obviously, the show suffered without the charismatic and brilliant performance of Denzel Washington, the star of the movie by the same name. Also, the show was a unfortunate role for the late Bill Paxton during the end of his life and career. The show got moved around in terms of time slots a lot and was cancelled after a single season on TV.
3. Will
Will had an interesting backstory, as it was originally ordered way back in 2013, but was never broadcast on TV. But in 2017, the show finally came out. Will was a drama series that focused on a young William Shakespeare, but a fictional version of his life. The premise was interesting enough and had potential, but the creators of the show sadly didn’t do enough to keep audiences watching. The best way to describe his period piece is “boring.” The concept ends up just looking silly and nothing really of note stands out about the show, so it was cancelled after a single season on TNT.
2. Imaginary Mary
We have no idea why this concept was ever green lit. To be honest, this show should have never seen the light of day. Imaginary Mary focuses on a public relations executive whose childhood imaginary friend, named Mary, returns to her life. Problem is, having an all-CGI main character costs a lot of money. In an effort to not overspend, Mary ended up looking pretty shoddy. The character was also quite annoying. While the acting was decent throughout the show, there was no way a premise like this would ever be successful with an adult audience. The series was cancelled before the first season was even finished.
1. Doubt
The creators of this show had the brilliant idea of having a lawyer (Katherine Heigl) fall for the person they are defending, who just happens to be a murderer. Yes, the main character of this show falls in love with someone who committed one of the most despicable acts ever. The show saves itself from being completely terrible thanks to a talented cast, but the episodes are mostly filler and aren’t that different from every other courtroom drama — even with the crazy premise. The show was cancelled after just a few episodes, with the rest eventually being released later on in 2017. Simply put, the idea behind this show was too strange, since it’s hard to connect with a protagonist who falls in love with a murderer.
