It seems 2005 was a good year for terrible TV. The same year that Hawaii flopped on (and quickly off) our silver screens, another disaster was brewing. This one was an attempt to conquer the supernatural mystery genre and it featured 90s scream queen, Jennifer Love Hewitt. Those of you with a good memory will, by now, have the words, Ghost Whisperer, emerging from your minds. While the show fared phenomenally better than most of those to grace this list, critics despised it, right from the first episode. Fortune, though, was shining on the fading 90s star as her fans were persistent enough to allow Ghost Whisperer to last a full five seasons before being canned.
While the idea of Jennifer Love Hewitt hanging out with a bunch of ghosts seems like it could have some merit to it, the premiere failed to draw much interest and then failed to impress many of those who gave it a shot. One of the biggest problems was that people came to the show hoping for supernatural thrills but were instead given sentimental drama. The New York Times insisted that “neither Ms. Hewitt nor her series are malevolent forces, and the producers can feel as good as they choose about a cloying job well done.”
2004: Hawaii
Hawaii premiered on NBC in 2004, but it failed to survive for a full season; after only seven episodes, the network pulled the plug. They didn’t even bother airing the eighth episode, despite it having been filmed and produced. The ratings were so terrible it wasn’t worth putting anyone through the hell of another failed reception for the poor, dismal show. As you may have guessed from the name, Hawaii was supposed to be a new, revamped version of the cult classic, Hawaii Five-O. But this cop drama fell flat on its face with critics saying it didn’t even come close to comparing to the show that inspired it.
While there were many scathing critiques to choose from, we feel The San Francisco Chronicle hit the nail right on the head with their review: “Hawaii isn’t half as cool as Hawaii Five-O, nor nearly as frothy fun as Magnum P.I. What it amounts to, in an ocean of really good cop shows across the dial, is a retro failure built around people you don’t really care about saying stupid things you can’t muster enough interest to snicker over.” Harsh but, we dare say, fair.
2005: Killer Instinct
When it comes to cop shows, it seems critics are especially difficult to win over. 2005 marked the arrival of yet another failure of a crime drama: Killer Instinct. In fact, the show won the dubious honor of being decreed one of the worst-rated shows of the year. Congratulations? An attempt at breaking into the “gritty crime drama” genre, Killer Instinct was so cringe-worthy it was canned before the year was out. This was one of those offerings that appealed to a select group of fans. These guys were numerous enough to allow the show to at least finish out its first season.
While it clearly had something going for it as far as everyday viewers went, the critics weren’t nearly as generous. USA Today described it as being Fox’s worst show of the season. Meanwhile, The New York Daily News decreed, “it’s a show so determined to shock that it cares more about that than about such things as compelling lead characters, believable situations or inventively solved mysteries.”
2006: ‘Til Death
With larger than life funnyman, Brad Garrett, at the helm, no one foresaw the terrible demise of ‘Til Death. When the show first aired, in 2006, Garrett was still buzzing from the success of Everybody Loves Raymond. Fans were equally abuzz with Garrett’s character, Robert, being a crowd favorite. When Garrett’s very own sitcom finally went to air though, it proved to be a disappointing flop. The sitcom revolved around a husband and wife who were entering into their 23rd year of married life. Their relationship was contrasted with their newlywed neighbors and, while the writers planned for it to be funny, it left audiences and critics alike with straight faces.
USA Today had a crack at explaining why this happened: “the main structural problem for the show is that neither the couples nor the contrast make any sense…. Still, this being a comedy, the more troubling problem is that no one is funny, starting with Garrett.”
2007: Rules of Engagement
‘Til Death wasn’t the only sitcom to attempt the old married couple vs. newlyweds dynamic… and it wasn’t the only one to fail at it. While Rules of Engagement was technically more successful. Lasting a fairly impressive seven seasons, it was never given a break by critics. While it came out in 2007, it seems Rules of Engagement learned little from its failed predecessor. In fact, its similarity to ‘Til Death was a big part of its undoing.
A critic for The Chicago Sun-Times explained, “Rules and ‘Til Death bear exactly the same ups and downs. The ups: essentially a good cast, plus sporadic funny lines. The downs: many un-funny lines, plus rehashed story-lines from a thousand episodes of married-life sitcoms dating all the way back to The Honeymooners.” While these sitcoms failed for being unfunny, hilarity can sometimes be what heralds in the failure, as you’ll read when we get to 2010.