Premiering on ABC in 2010, The Deep End has the dubious honor of joining the ranks of shows that were canceled within their first month. Just reading the premise has us already glazing over with boredom, so we can see why it didn’t go down well with audiences. The Deep End was a legal drama (yawn) that centered around a bunch of first-year associate attorneys as they dealt with insane workloads at a top LA law firm. Why, after a full day’s work, would anyone want to come home and watch a show about people dealing with too much work? We feel stressed just thinking about it.
In addition to its work-heavy premise, critics felt The Deep End lacked originality. The San Francisco Chronicle made no mystery of its feelings about the show: “The Deep End is stupid. It is obvious and ridiculous and badly acted for the most part.” The Los Angeles Times was equally harsh, calling it “poorly conceived, badly written and indifferently acted, The Deep End is a jumble of terrible ideas from start to finish.”
2009: The Cougar
While people rarely turn to reality TV when they’re in the mood for quality viewing, even the cheesiest reality shows have the potential to be big hits. Why? Well, you have to admit there’s a certain joy that can only be found in secretly indulging in trashy TV. And it doesn’t get more trashy than a group of 20-something males competing to romance a rich and successful lady who’s more than twice their age. While The Cougar had all the key ingredients to be one of those trashy indulgences you’d never admit to watching but secretly can’t get enough of, it somehow failed to deliver.
The Boston Globe explained why they thought it fell short: “By rights, given all of this material, The Cougar should be hilarious. But the show takes itself so seriously that, instead, it feels impossibly sad.” Audiences apparently agreed, because the show only lasted eight episodes.
2010: High Society
With shows like Gossip Girl and HBO classic, Sex and the City, enjoying cult status among their numerous fans, you can understand why producers of High Society felt sure their show would be a rating success. The 2010 offering focused on the real lives of New York City socialites, with Tinsley Mortimer as its first “it girl.” It seems, though, that the reality of high society in New York just isn’t as entertaining as what fiction writers can come up with. The show fell flat, failing to live up to the impossible expectations viewers had developed from Gossip Girl and SATC.
Only eight episodes ever made it out into the public realm, and this writer from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette clearly felt that was already far too much, describing High Society as “an awful show about awful people.” In her defense, it was less Tinsley Mortimer and more her morally bankrupt set of friends that critics complained about.
2011: H8R
With a title like H8R, it’s hard to expect much. And, H8R certainly lived up to these non-existent expectations, slated by many as being the worst show on television in 2011. With comedian, Mario Lopez, as host, the program was all about celebrities meeting their “haters.” Instead of confronting them, the celebrities would weirdly attempt to win them over. While six episodes were shot, only four were ever aired. Ratings were so low it was actually more cost-effective for The CW to just cut their losses and air something less woeful in the time slot.
Critics were brutal, accusing the show of exploiting second-rate celebrities by making them drip with desperation. TV Guide Magazine was clear and brutal in their conclusions about H8R: “Not buying it. Not watching it. Feel free to hate H8R, and should they come knocking, don’t let them in. No one needs to be on TV this badly.”
2011: I Hate My Teenage Daughter
What a name for a show. I Hate My Teenage Daughter debuted on Fox in 2011 and it was as horrible as it sounds. The show centered around two single mothers who quite literally hate their children. The reason? They see in their daughters echoes of the girls who used to pick on them in high school. While mother-daughter hate could be pulled off in a show thick with comedy, that doesn’t take itself seriously and has a whole bunch of redeeming qualities, I Hate My Teenage Daughter brought none of this to the table.
The jokes were straight up misogynistic, and it was just plain uncomfortable watching family members turned against each other over petty behaviors. In describing this bleak, failed comedy, The New York Times wrote: “It should be funnier, but aptly enough, the pilot fails by also clumsily trying too hard, pushing what should be lighthearted portraits of insecure, inadequate mothers into grotesque caricatures.”