TV Guides fifty worst shows

[Robert Sharp]

Here is a link to the list..it's in the article after the early comments:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=579&e=1&cid=579&u=/nm/20020713/en_nm/leisure_tv_worst_dc_2

I have to say I tend to disagree with Hogan's Heroes being on the list myself. I saw a TV Guide person on Headline news this morning who defended the choice by saying : "In the end, what's funny about a Nazi Concentration Camp?" My wife and I felt this to be one of the worst PC comments we have heard in a while. Yes, bad things happened in Nazi Germany, but isn't the point of a comedy to take the familiar (and at times the morose and terrible) and poke fun at it? The show was funny! It had funny characters. I mean, you could as easily say, "What's so funny about a hospital and wounded soldiers in the Korean war?"

I also think that if they included Manimal (a bad, but good show..campy) they should definitely have included Automan. I like watching both shows...they are just SOO bad! Actually, there are a lot of bad Sci-Fi shows, aren't there? Misfits of Science, Forever Knight (ugh..bad in a bad way), Baywatch Nights, and lots more!

So what do you think of the list? What shouldn't be there and what should be added?

[Mark Asher]

Not to sound snobbish, but how to single out bad TV shows? The majority of them suck.

But if I had to pick some shows, I'd dump most talk shows, anything with an uplifting religious theme (Touched by an Angel, yer outta here!), nighttime soaps (Dallas, Falcon Crest, etc.), any series filmed in Canada to save on production costs, and Family Feud, especially the Louie Anderson version.

I just want more NFL football. I want a Saturday night game, more Thursday night games, etc. I'd happily watch 6-8 games a week if I could -- and no, Tivo isn't the way I want to do it.

[wumpus]

Tivo isn't the way I want to do it.
That's TV on the "hard" difficulty level.

[Mark Asher]

Will Tivo block all the 10 minute updates of game scores that scroll across the screen? I certainly don't want to watch a taped game once I know the outcome. It's impossible to avoid the scores when you watch a game. If a notable upset is happening the announcers even comment on it. So much for Tivo.

[Anonymous]

"anything with an uplifting religious theme"

Quantum Leap was pretty dang good.

[Anonymous]

I was happy when I saw the "Worst Shows" listing of "Saturday Night Live," then got pissed when I realized it wasn't the NBC comedy version.

Here are some sci-fi/fantasy shows to add to the list...

* SUPER-FORCE: The world's worst superhero show. Patrick Macnee of "The Avengers" was in it, and obviously knew how shamefully bad it was, as his character's face was never visible on camera, though he was one of the main characters, featured in every episode. Unintentionally hilarious.

* BLACK SCORPION on Sci-Fi (supposed to be campy, but just completely horrible). Actually, 90% of the Sci-Fi network's original programming is among the worst ever produced. The direct-to-home-video horror movies they show are even worse. But given that I like the sci-fi genre, I end up watching more than I should. Kill me now.

* NIGHT MAN: the hunky, idiotic lite-jazz playing saxophonist superhero who drives a Plymouth Prowler. What absolute garbage.

* the final season of GENE RODDENBERRY'S EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT (the show was never Shakespeare, but the last season was some of the worst shit ever aired on television)

* And, just for the hell of it: the Morton Downey, Jr. talk show.

[Bub, Andrew]

* SUPER-FORCE: The world's worst superhero show. Patrick Macnee of "The Avengers" was in it, and obviously knew how shamefully bad it was, as his character's face was never visible on camera, though he was one of the main characters, featured in every episode. Unintentionally hilarious.


Could it really have been worse than Misfits of Science?

[Troy S Goodfellow]

God that list brought back some awful memories. "Woops!" - I had forgotten all about it. Not to mention "Unhappily Ever After", which was in fact introduced to me by my local bartender with the very words "This is the worst show I have ever seen."

I'm surprised that the crappy Loni Andersen vehicle "Easy Street" isn't on the list. Or "The Single Guy". Or "Look Who's Talking", though they do have "Baby Bob".

[Robert Sharp]

I didn't think Single Guy was that bad, though it wasn't great either. Was Look Who's Talking made into a TV show? I didn't know that.

I have to agree with Mark though that there should be more football. I can't WAIT for the season to start. It just isn't a long enough season. I have been watching the NFL channel for months and every college game on ESPN classic :). I need more football now!

You play fantasy, Mark?

[Sparky]

I can't believe they forgot "Shasta McNasty".

[Mark Asher]

"You play fantasy, Mark?"

Never tried one yet. I don't have anything against them, but I've never gotten motivated enough to try one to see how they are. I know some people who get really wrapped up in it, though.

Fantasy sports is a mass market proposition. I could see a company running one for $X a month that lets you play in several leagues rather than charging for individual leagues for individual sports.

Besides baseball and football, are there any other fantasy sports? Hockey? Basketball?

I think there should be a fantasy sports criminals league. "Cool! I've got Allen Iverson on my team and he just got arrested! That's worth 25 points!"

[Anonymous]

. I saw a TV Guide person on Headline news this morning who defended the choice by saying : "In the end, what's funny about a Nazi Concentration Camp?" My wife and I felt this to be one of the worst PC comments we have heard in a while. >>>>

Not only horridly PC but incorrect, it was a POW camp not a Concentration Camp.

Guess everything's relative, my late father who fled the Nazis at age 11 with his family, used to love Hogan's Heroes! Why?? Because it made the Nazis look like fools : :lol: : But I'm sure some 20 something TV guy knows better !

[chet]

Damn you mark. Damn you to hell. I was just trading emails with one of the guys I do poe with and talking with my girlie about that very idea. Did she call you? A poe fantasy football league where you get points for what bad the NFL player did, while somethings would be hard to figure points for (http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/2002/0708/1403417.html), other crimes are a little more standard.

Out of all the pro sports, I think the NFL has the biggest problem. Did anyone ever hear the Jim Rome interview of (i think) Montana where he asked him if he thought that the nfl was having problems with all the black eyes - montana thought he said black guys and twisted and struggled to try and answer the question without offending blacks or jim rome's question.

Chet

[Mark Asher]

You could do crimes, but you could also just have penalties in there too. And fines.

"My guy was called for offsides twice. That's 10 points. He also yelled at the coach and got fined $1000. That's worth what? 20 points?"

Penalties, fines, criminal acts, anytime a player gets a headline on ESPN for something negative -- there's some possibility there!

[chet]

I was thinking any fines, not penalties - i figure in the nfl, any serious, serious penalty always gets a fine. Does any other sport review games to hand out fines a week later?

I don't know about dress code violations - those are always the wacky fines.

With baseball dead to me, I am really looking forward to the NFL season this year. Helps that our team is looking to be not so terrible this year.

Chet

[Jim F.]

CBS Sportsline has a really nice system that we use for fantasy sports. Our commissioner runs several football and baseball leagues through them for 1 flat fee. It's also nice to be able to go to 1 place and run all my teams instead of hopping from place to place and exchanging e-mails with commissioners. Also makes interstate play much easier since you don't have to all be in a room to do the drafting and make trades.

[Robert Sharp]

You can also, despite rumors to the contrary, play at Sportsline or Nfl.com (which are the same now for fantasy) for free. Just go to http://fantasy.sportsline.com/ and scroll to the bottom of the page for the free leagues. Don't click on the diamond/gold link, but the one BELOW it for the freeness.

For Mark's question, yes there are fantasy leagues for all the big sports, even soccer, I think, which we all know is not big in America :). However, there are no criminal sports leagues...yet.

[Supertanker]

Not to sound snobbish, but how to single out bad TV shows? The majority of them suck.

Allow me to make the obvious joke. "I saw the new cover of TV Guide, and it said 50 Worst TV Shows. I thought it was their new tag line." Ba-dum!

Thanks, you've been great. I'll be here all week.

[Robert Sharp]

Yay!!!


A high number of shows on that list are relatively recent. It may well indicate a general decline in quality. I find myself watching a lot reruns, though there are still a few decent shows out there. Watch BBC America for good shows, past and present!

[Bub, Andrew]

A high number of shows on that list are relatively recent. It may well indicate a general decline in quality. I find myself watching a lot reruns, though there are still a few decent shows out there. Watch BBC America for good shows, past and present!

Probably because the "listers" are younger. Sort of like how some of the classics keep falling backward on PCGamer's Annual Best Games Ever list. Anyway, lists like this are pretty much a "sell copies of TV Guide" stunt.

Watch BBC America for good shows, past and present!

Is that the channel that keeps showing "Are You Being Served?" :)
Makes me think of a Simpsons line: "Britain's longest running series! 7 episodes!"

[Anonymous]

Uh, right. There were thirteen years of Are You Being Served, and two spin-off series, so I would have to assume there were more than seven episodes, Mr. Bub.

[Bub, Andrew]

Thank you, but you're arguing with The Simpsons writer who wrote the line I quoted, not me. Throw the facts in their faces and damn the consquences I say!

[Anonymous]

"Thank you, but you're arguing with The Simpsons writer who wrote the line I quoted, not me."

Not really. You said "Are You Being Served" was comparable to that line. Are you backing down from that comparison, like a timid naked mole rat before the offensive might of an Uzi-toting Johnny Carson?

[Bub, Andrew]

Um.... I'm backing down like that timid naked mole-rat thingie.
Seriously though, 13 years of that show? That is amazing.

[Anonymous]

As a trophy of war, I'm taking your Games Domain column. From here on out, it will be renamed "Lord Keffingbottom's Hubub." I can keep you on provisionally as an unpaid ghost writer, if you wish.

Let me know...

[Robert Sharp]

Being Served is possibly the finest television ever created, though many of the episodes were mediocre. The first couple of seasons though...WOW! Still, you have to remember that a season on the BBC is like 6 episodes :). So to say it was on for 13 years is not to say it has 260 episodes, or whatever that would be in America, but more like 80 or so ;). "Dear Sexy Knickers" may be the funniest episode of television I have ever seen, though the first Father Ted episode is pretty damned funny!

It's a Spider Baby! It has the body of a spider, but the mind of a baby!

How do you know it's a baby? Does it gurgle or something?

No.

Does it drink a bottle.

No.

Then how do you know?

Well, they keep it in a pram.


HAHAHA! Love it!

Also, "It wouldn't really bite you though. Well, not unless it got a bit older."

I have never cried so hard from laughing as from that episode.

[copeknight]

Are You Being Served? managed 69 episodes over 10 seasons.

Carl

[Robert Sharp]

Thanks, Carl. My wife and I record it every night. It's cheaper than buying the collection ;). Of course, a lot of the episodes are really bad too, which is common in long running series, even when there aren't many episodes per season. The writing really went downhill after the first 3 or 4 seasons, and really started to fall once the character of Mr. Grainger was gone. I did, however, actually like Are You Being Served Again, which had nothing to do with the store, but had the same old characters managing a sort of bed and breakfast type place. I guess that's what they are doing.

Anyway, these lists are so arbitrary, though we all know that. It still gets me upset at times though. I bet they never even considered foreign shows, not that they necessarily should have, of course. Most people expect U.S. shows only.

BTW, I never saw the MASH spinoff. What was that like?

[copeknight]

"AfterMASH" was just your standard bad sitcom. I don't think it was one of the worst shows ever, just forgettable and disappointing--I think expectations were high. I would have replaced it with Fox's fine, fine :roll: "Women in Prison" or "Family Guy" or NBC's sordid daytime soap "Generations" which advertised itself as "black and white--in color!"

Carl

[MarchHare]

any series filmed in Canada to save on production costs


Like the X-Files in the first five seasons, when the show was actually good?

[Jason Becker]

"A high number of shows on that list are relatively recent. It may well indicate a general decline in quality."

No just the age of the people picking these shows.

MarchHare is right about the X-files. Although I its demise in quality wasn't as much about location as about that pesky thing called quality writing which %99.9 of shows don't have.


If it wasn't for sports I wouldn't own a TV.

[MarchHare]

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that the show sucked because they stopped filming it in Vancouver, but during the years when production was done in Canada, the show was quite good, which negates Mark's point that any series filmed North of the 48th parallel must suck.