Joe On The Tube’s Worst of 2008
I hate to go all negative here, but let’s face facts. If there is going to be a “Best of…” there has to be a “Worst of…”
The Worst of Television- 2008
Kath and Kim- I wanted this show to be good. Hell I wanted this show to be great. NBC had been marketing it as hard as I’ve ever seen them push a show. The 30 second clips that they would show were all very funny. The talent was top notch. It seemed all the stars had aligned for this Aussie remake. Alas, it wasn’t to be. This show was bad from the start. It just didn’t work on any level. What was seemingly funny for 30 seconds wasn’t funny in the context of the full show. It hasn’t been cancelled, but I would be surprised if it gets picked up for a second season (well maybe I wouldn’t be).
The Return of Jezebel James- I love Parker Posey. I think she is one of the funniest actors working today. She steals the spotlight in EVERYTHING she is in. Add in Six Feet Under’s Lauren Ambrose, and by all means you should have a hit. Sadly that wasn’t the case for The Return of Jezebel James. While the show itself wasn’t bad, it’s ratings were. 13 original episodes were originally ordered, which was shortened to 7 due to the impending WGA Strike, and out of that only 3 were ever aired.
90210- When Beverly Hills, 90210 started in 1990 it really did change television. It was one of the first dramas aimed at the teenager. Despite the characters all being rich and fabulously good-looking they were still identifiable. Fast forward 18 years with the remake/sequel/knock-off 90210 and it’s just stale. In those 18 years how many times have we seen the same formula? The OC, Dawson’s Creek, Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, My So-Called-Life, Veronica Mars, Party of Five, Felicity, and the list goes on and on. Each one dealing with the same subjects, and most of them doing a much better than 90210 does it. I guess if you can’t do something original, then your next best bet is to take something done over and over again and slap a fresh coat of paint on it. My real questions is, just how skinny can these girls get?
The WGA (Writers Guild of America) Strike- I understand why the strike took place, and I think the writers were getting a raw deal, but let’s face it, it sucked for television. Not only did we get re-runs in what should have been the middle of the season, we became bombarded with horrible reality shows, like Deal or No Deal 5 days a week, the re-hash of American Gladiators, and the show that rewarded you for destroying yours and others lives Moment of Truth. We survived, but more than one show that was just reaching it’s stride didn’t. In the middle of the whole thing I saw a poll that claimed more people would rather the WGA Strike end than the war in Iraq.
quarterlife- I really love this idea. quarterlife started off as an internet only show. Since writers could still produce original content for the internet during the strike, quarterlife was created for the internet, and then the episodes were picked up by NBC. The idea was to fuse the show with a social media (SM) website of the same name. All the characters were artists, most of them in the digital realm. They used SM to promote themselves and their work. It was cancelled after one episode due to dismal ratings (lower than the XFL). America wasn’t ready for the idea of internet on the TV yet. You can still watch it online and the SM network is still in place.
Knight Rider- The reason this show failed was that KITT is supposed to be a Trans-Am, not a Mustang. He is a car that can do outrageous things like float, shot missiles, and of course talk, but he is not a Transformer. If you wanted to remake something that was immensely popular why would you change the formula?
Grey’s Anatomy- At one time this was my wife’s favorite show. I would sit down with her from time to time and watch some of it, and to be honest it wasn’t bad at all. That can no longer be said. This show has gotten horrible and has outstayed it’s welcome. There are many reasons this is true, but the main on is that there is now a character on the show having sex with a ghost. I’m sure it is all going to turn out to be some sort of brain tumor or something making her think that she was having sex with a ghost, but it doesn’t matter.
Heroes- It think it’s impressive that Heroes has gone from a must see every week to being erased from my DVR in three short seasons. The story lives have become convoluted and confusing. Throwing time travel in the mix certainly didn’t help. So many of the actors are just hard to watch. Part of me gets the feeling that even the writers and creators have no idea where the story is going. It’s sad that something so great has become so bad. I really wish this wasn’t the case, but I have to say that out of all the things listed above, Heroes is truly the Worst of Television 2008.
3 years ago