🔗 Share this article That Drifting Excrement Was Way Too Meaningful! It's the TV Letdowns of the Past Year. Looking back, we reflect on the TV landscape of the recent year, a handful of shows stand out not for their excellence, but for their notable failures. From cringe-inducing spin-offs to bafflingly bad documentaries, here are the programmes that had us scratching our heads or just reaching for the remote. And Just Like That Where to begin with this love/hate follow-up? Plagued with dreadful writing, painful arcs (we demand better for Miranda!), and a paltry 71 seconds of beloved Samantha, the show struggled to justify its existence. For a moment, as the third season started, it seemed as if it had at last found its groove. Then came an episode all about Seema’s natural deodorant. Little surprise the creator declared this would be the last season. It ended on a bum note; the lingering shot of Miranda’s toilet flooded with poo was simply too symbolic. Yet, fans undeniably had a hoot dissecting every single “what on earth?” episode. And as Carrie – a single woman once more – twirled around her sprawling townhouse to Barry White, who didn’t let out a small sob? All’s Fair ‘Is Kim Kardashian an actress? The answer is a resounding no.’ But that was almost the least of this drama's problems. The subject of a very rare zero star review, it was difficult to know where to start enumerating the problems. The laughably wooden writing? The tedious veneration of affluence and consumption? The seemingly deliberate parade of tropes? Performances so poor they felt almost malicious? Let’s just say “all of the above” and forget about this series again. Except, a second season has been ordered, so we’re probably going to have to. The Charlie Sheen Documentary Considering the legal troubles, abuse allegations and parental failures, it’s reasonable to say Charlie Sheen has been a bad boy. Not you’d really have gleaned it from this multi-part docuseries which smirked its way at Sheen’s various episodes of reckless hedonism while failing to tell us anything we didn’t already know. Rather, it felt as if this loose cannon was being pandered to, so any sympathy this show might evoke should be reserved for the people who have had to endure close contact with this charming but dismissive egotist. The Supercomputer Drama Naturally we understood it was ridiculous from the outset: a drama about a AI known as Charlie Big Potatoes that could either save the world – or destroy all of humanity. We stuck with it out of sheer love for its leads … but by the end, it felt like even they had stopped bothering. One barely reacted when his character died, and the other ultimately hacking Charlie with an axe … in super slow-motion. Talk about giving up the ghost. MobLand Shady characters meeting in deserted boxing gyms? The Prodigy’s Firestarter blaring in club scenes? The late 90s called and demands its crime drama back. Actually, that is harsh on the gangland dramas of the late 90s. Many seem a little dated now, but at least they didn’t endure the embarrassment of having to accommodate baffling accents. But there were many other issues. Primarily that it was just profoundly boring; a conflict over narcotics territory between various London picaresques which seemed rather simplistic. With Love, Meghan Given the degree to which she grinds the gears of certain ostentatiously enraged commentators, it’s almost tempting to admire the Duchess of Sussex’s televised ventures into quaint lifestyle as intentional provocations. But then you view them and are compelled to concede that in this case, they might have a point. It’s like watching a homeware magazine come to life; a poster for evening drinks with ideas of grandeur; a parade of sleeping dogs, buzzing beehives, Hallmark sayings and forgettable crafting “tips” you’ll not remember instantly. All underpinned by vast, mostly undeserved wealth. Ugh. The Beckham Documentary There are obviously fascinating things to be said about regarding Victoria Beckham and her journey with career, self-image, self-worth. But for some reason, this documentary series chose not to explore them. Rather, the experience was akin to consuming a marketing brochure. She clearly has good reason to bridle at what she describes as her “stern” image. But sadly, she didn’t do herself any helps with this cagey non-event of a series. The Inheritance It should have been the next big hit – except even camper, with a famous star as a deceased benefactor and a sharp-tongued personality overseeing her inheritance. What more could you ask for? As players battled it out, there was plenty of backstabbing and squabbling. But the rules quickly became bewildering: it’s even now too complicated to detail what exactly was happening. Even more disappointingly, we only saw glimpses of the star via prerecorded videos. The show ended up reeking of a production that was straining desperately to emulate something way beyond it. The Lena Dunham Romcom How does one follow a show that defined a generation? The expectation was enormous for this glitzy romantic comedy about Jessica, a hopeful New Yorker who arrives in London with a broken heart. The star seized the opportunity by the horns and was joyous to watch, reveling in Austen levels of romantic notions. But it was all very slick and, paradoxically, was not enough. Plus, the sheer amount of celebrity friends involved felt icky. Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping Not even good enough to be ‘patchy’. Given the smart inclusion of talented younger comics, expectations were high. But unhappily, most of it didn’t land. A particular sketch was a one-note joke stretched to a husk but recurring in every episode. One star seemed too willing to slip into a well-known ranting mode. The behind-the-scenes sketches, in contrast, simply inspired the thought that they should probably have stayed in there a bit longer. The Knox Dramatisation This retelling of the story of Amanda Knox was executive produced by Amanda Knox and pretty much exclusively presented the viewpoint of Amanda Knox. So, while there probably is an interesting drama to be made about the horrific 2007 murder, this isn’t it. The material needed to be handled sensitively. Instead, the series struggled painfully to find the right voice, lumbering from strangely jaunty, somewhat stylised farce to ultimately, real-life horror. Complex? Arguably. A total mess? Absolutely. The Maths Genius Thriller We love the star … but did we buy him playing the most brilliant maths genius in history, a man so intelligent he’s on the verge of a discovery that could ruin society? Nope! This globe-trotting thriller about government agencies targeting – and killing off – academics frankly got more absurd by the second. Silliness-by-numbers. The Bonnie Blue Documentary This hagiography followed the content creator notorious for sexual exploits as she undertook her most extreme feat yet. What on earth would possess her? What we wanted was way more interrogation of her true psychology, plus those of the men in the queue. They could at least have interviewed the now-famous mum who showed up to haul her son out of the queue. What we got was disturbing shots and absolutely no interrogation of her notoriety whatsoever. And to think, the filmmaker has a young daughter too.