History Horrible / LiveActionTv

* '''''Coming to America''''', based on the [[Film/ComingToAmerica 1988 film of the same name]], was a pilot for a proposed sitcom. It aired on the Fourth of July in 1989 on Creator/{{CBS}} as part of the network's ''Summer Playhouse'' pilot anthology series. The purposed series followed the adventures of Akeem's (Creator/EddieMurphy's character from the film) mischievous brother, Tariq (played by Tommy Davidson) in Queens, New York. The pilot mostly excises the [[VulgarHumor raunchy]], [[{{Satire}} satirical]] comedy of the film in favor of a [[ClicheStorm bland and generic]] [[LighterAndSofter family]] sitcom [[StrictlyFormula formula]]. The character interactions feel less like a proper follow-up to ''Coming to America'' so much as it is a [[FollowTheLeader second rate]] ''Series/PerfectStrangers'' or a proto-''Series/FamilyMatters'', with Tariq being Steve Urkel to his landlord, Carl Mackey's Carl Winslow. If there aren't countless [[TheEighties '80s]] [[ReferenceOverdosed pop culture references]] being shoehorned in (including Eddie Murphy's movies), or a prototypical FailureMontage of Tariq and his assistant Oha (played by Paul Bates, who [[RoleReprise reprised his role]] from the film) working at a diner, there are supremely uncomfortable jokes about [[HollywoodCuisine Africans eating insects]]. Tommy Davidson's comedic style is [[HumorDissonance lost in the shuffle]], as he attempts to imitate Eddie Murphy's [[ThePollyanna Pollyanish]] Akeem while interjecting his own high concept stage persona, complete with random impressions of Music/StevieWonder and Music/MichaelJackson. The pilot even has a SentimentalMusicCue, [[GoldenMoment when Tariq learns about the value of hard work]]. A 2020 oral history of the pilot by Bonsu Thompson would pin the blame of the pilot's failure squarely on the shoulders of its showrunner and writer Ken Hecht. Hecht reportedly did not take any suggestions from the production team and wanted to make the proposed ''Coming to America'' sitcom as much like other '80s shows (such as ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'' and ''Series/{{Webster}}'') as possible. Tommy Davidson would also write that Ken Hecht came from the golden age of comedy, where he knew about the setup, joke, [[{{Punchline}} joke]], and another joke but didn't have a feel for Eddie Murphy's style of comedy nor a feel for Black pride. Davidson added that Eddie Murphy, despite being listed as an executive producer, never visited the set.

* '''''Absolute Proof''''' is referred to as a [[Main/InsistentTerminology "docu-movie"]] by director and star Mike Lindell, which makes sense when you consider there is no proof of it being a [[Main/DocumentaryOfLies documentary.]] Based on Lindell's claims that the 2020 election was rigged against UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, the "docu-movie" uses false claims from untrustworthy sources (the data shown was revealed to be given by Dennis L. Montgomery, who is a software designer with a history of fraud). The guests interviewed in the movie are also not known or reputable, like "Mary Fanning", who only appears as a voice and has no presence outside the film. Even ignoring the false claims, the documentary itself is of low quality, as the formatting is amateur and more similar to a web show than a proper film, with Mike rambling behind a desk, sometimes stumbling over and mispronouncing words and names. The editing is also poor, with frequent fade-outs in the middle of sentences, failure to crop software icons from chat footage, and poor sound mixing with music drowning out the voices sometimes. About the only "positive" thing was it was not made for grifting as it was released for free on internet video sites (though many took it down for its false claims) and also offered a free DVD (minus shipping). The movie won two Razzies, Worst Picture and Worst Actor (for Lindell), and recieved a 2.8 rating on IMDB. WebVideo/CinematicExcrement reviewed it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be8IivqhzNk here]], and the only reason it felt it didn't deserve its Razzie (except for also being a 2021 movie winning for a 2020 show) was due to its flimsy status as a movie. When [[UsefulNotes/NewsNetworks One America News Network]] aired the movie, they aired a lengthy [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mike-lindells-absolute-proof/ disclaimer]] saying that Lindell paid to broadcast the movie, and that the thoughts expressed were his alone and did not reflect the network. Ultimately, Lindell's false claims led to a $1.3 billion dollar defamation lawsuit against him by Dominion, manufacturers of the voting machines.

* The miniseries '''''Series/{{Earthsea}}''''' takes AdaptationDecay to ridiculous new heights by poorly compressing two lengthy books into less than three hours (give ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' this, at least it mostly only adapted ''The Farthest Shore'' while bringing in some elements from the first two books and ''Tehanu''); changing the original contemplative tone of the books into a more generic HighFantasy action story; [[RaceLift whitewashes]] every single dark-skinned character (which was pretty much every named character in the books except for Tenar, including the central hero Ged) aside from Oglion, who thus becomes a [[TokenBlack Token]] MagicalNegro (ironically, the single major white character in the books, Tenar, was race lifted with a half Asian actress), and has the usual Syfy shoddy production values and writing. Unfortunately, the series is just too dull and boring to be SoBadItsGood like many of Syfy's original productions. The series was so awful that the original author Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin had nothing good to say about it, and she actually liked the divisive animated movie ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' [[SoOkayItsAverage decently]] (albeit still disappointed) after separating it mentally from her own works. All in all, ''Earthsea'' is a butchered adaptation that would most likely make people let down by ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' look back more fondly on Goro Miyazaki's shot at adapting the books.

* 2007's '''''Series/{{Cavemen}}''''' stands out as one of the worst concepts for a TV show of all time - a sitcom based on characters in a TV commercial, in this case the cavemen from a series of Advertising/{{GEICO}} ads. This concept already failed when Creator/{{CBS}} attempted to make a show based on the Freei Baby commercials (''Baby Bob''; the character was revived for a short while by Quizno's), and fans of ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'' already had a grudge against it for replacing its timeslot, but those who decided to watch it found it to somehow be even worse than it sounded on paper. The show had already run into trouble after the pilot was screened for critics: those who saw it claimed it was offensive and racist (the cavemen were an obvious stand-in for African-Americans, with the word "magger" seeing frequent use), leading to the show undergoing a significant ReTool into a slacker-comedy with the original pilot never seeing the light of day on TV. This helped precisely nothing, as the program was [[http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/04/news/wk-cavemen4 critically savaged]] right from the beginning due to its weak characters (who have [[OohMeAccentsSlipping awful, fake]] Southern accents [[MisplacedAccent despite the series being set in California]] [[note]]this is another holdover from the pilot, which was set in UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}[[/note]]), bottom-of-the-barrel "humor" (the "highlight" is when a caveman is told to "[[BestialityIsDepraved keep your penis in your genus]]"), unnecessary sex scenes with plenty of FanDisservice, and lame plots. To top it off, some of the offensive material from the original pilot made it into the reshot version! The bad reviews combined with dismal ratings led to only six of the 13 episodes being aired before Creator/{{ABC}} put it out of its misery, and GEICO themselves poked fun at the series in a commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. The ''[[http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-071024worst_tv,0,3673604.story Chicago Tribune]]'' called it one of the 25 worst TV shows of all time, and ''Magazine/TVGuide'' listed it in their 25 "biggest TV blunders", noting that making a sitcom based on a commercial was a terrible idea to begin with. Here's ''WebVideo/TVTrash''[='s=] [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20n0fl_tv-trash-cavemen_fun take on it]], and here's also Hats Off Entertainment's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAYRloh5oBo review]] of the unaired pilot and the series.
* The '''''[[Series/CharliesAngels2011 2011 remake of Charlie's Angels]]''''' cast aside the [[NarmCharm cheesy charm]] that made the original so iconic in favor of trying to copy the DarkerAndEdgier tone of modern action TV shows such as ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' and ''Series/BurnNotice'', even going so far as to throw some [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique unnecessary torture scenes]] in there for good measure. All it did was make the show an inconsistent and confusing mess. There was no character development, and each episode was merely an excuse to show hot chicks walking against StuffBlowingUp for an hour. Plots were [[ClicheStorm a parade of action movie cliches]], and the acting and dialogue were mediocre at best. Overall, it was an expensive flop for Creator/{{ABC}}, as the critics absolutely savaged it and audiences weren't much kinder; its first season was to last 13 episodes, but only 8 were ever aired, and in some countries the show didn't even last half that. If you're wondering why the property wasn't developed further until [[Film/CharliesAngels2019 2019]], in a nutshell, ''this'' is why. [[WebVideo/TVTrash Rowdy C]] [[https://rowdyc.com/tv-trash-charlies-angels-2011/ tears this apart as a tie-in to 2019's theatrical outing]].

* '''''Series/{{Galactica 1980}}'''''. This sequel[=/=]{{spinoff}} of the original ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' series eliminated half the cast (including Apollo, Cassiopeia, and Baltar) without explanation, and replaced them with new characters that are not even remotely memorable or likable in the slightest, then attempted to pander to audiences with insipid plots involving a group of space children named "The Super Scouts". Good actors made complete fools of themselves - especially Creator/LorneGreene, who was stuck talking to a child prodigy named Dr. Zee (who was recast with an even worse child actor after the first three-part episode) for most of the run. It featured what could be one of the worst episodes of a science-fiction series ever made, "Spaceball", in which the Super Scouts [[LighterAndSofter have to win a baseball game]]. The creators were forced to write stories that could be marketed to young children and shoehorn [[GreenAesop environmental messages]] into each one, mainly since the show was broadcast at 7:30 PM - a dead zone that killed any chance for success even if it had been worth watching. [[WriterRevolt The writers themselves hated it]], as every morning they would chant "come on 13" in reference to the highest rating the show could get and still be canned. Glen Larson had to deal with Creator/{{ABC}}'s [[MediaWatchdog Standards and Practices]], including their demands for more children, which in turn caused an influx of {{stage mom}}s ([[http://en.battlestarwikiclone.org/wiki/Galactica_1980 the entire sordid story must be read to be believed]]). Other problems with the show include bad acting and terrible special effects (especially when two of the lead characters are riding on flying motorcycles, but they're very clearly just sitting on motorcycles in front of a green screen), but the show's biggest sin? [[FranchiseKiller It killed off the franchise for over 20 years]] until [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 a reboot]] made it popular again. Here's WebVideo/TVTrash's [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20n2fn_tv-trash-galactica-1980_fun review]] of the disaster.

* '''''Life with Lucy'''''. No, not ''Series/ILoveLucy'' -- ''Life with Lucy''. This 1986 Creator/LucilleBall comedy series was supposed to be a smash success, but instead became one of the biggest critical and commercial flops of the 1980s. Why? Well, Creator/{{ABC}} gave complete creative control to Ball, who was 75 years old at the time of production -- a risky move because advertisers prefer viewers under 49, and the show led off the night against ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'' on Creator/{{NBC}} in a timeslot that ABC had [[FridayNightDeathSlot little success in]]. The plot, with Ball's character helping out at a UsefulNotes/{{California}} hardware store, was painfully slow and just not funny. The show finished almost dead-last in the season's rankings, and Ball was reportedly so devastated by its failure that she gave up production on any more television projects. Quite a pity, given that she died three years after the show was cancelled. As pointed out by the book ''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory'', part of the reason for the series' failure is that it tried to recreate the physical stunts of ''I Love Lucy'' when Ball was in her seventies. Watching her try to do those stunts didn't so much inspire laughter as it did fear for her safety. Supposedly, the idea of incorporating slapstick was made by an executive who firmly believed that fans would want some of the classic gags ''I Love Lucy'' was known for. You can watch WebVideo/TVTrash reviewing the show [[http://www.manic-expression.com/tv-trash-life-with-lucy/ here.]]

* That is, until 1998, when the BBC -- having not learned their lesson from last time -- decided to try again with '''''New Year Live'''''. With two well-known Scots -- comedian Fred [=MacAulay=] and Carol Smillie (of ''Changing Rooms'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' fame) -- as hosts, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, actually, resulting in what was easily the closest British equivalent to the Jamie Kennedy debacle of 2013 (see under KDOC-TV). The producer was an Englishwoman who was more experienced in daytime magazines than a live, prime time entertainment special, and it was clear from the start that the special was going to water down Hogmanay to "we're gonna have a rowdy party in a Scottish castle with celebrities". That tone was established within its opening, where the duo arrived at Edinburgh Castle in a [[SarcasmMode traditional Scottish]] helicopter, before being escorted onto the grounds on motorcycles, and introducing [[Music/DuranDuran a band from Birmingham]] singing [[Music/RioAlbum a song about Rio]]. The hosting was amateur (with Smillie -- who tended to be the [[StraightManAndWiseGuy Straight Woman to her co-host's Wise Guy]] -- repeatedly having to drag [=MacAulay=] back into the frame when he couldn't find the camera), and there were technical snafus (such as mistimed cues on the pre-recorded segments), unfunny comedy bits (such as Smillie being the butt of several jokes about her [[BuxomIsBetter "Rear of the Year" award]]), and so on. Once again, critics from the North and abroad agreed that it was awful, and subsequent Hogmanay specials remained exclusive to BBC One in Scotland, with the rest of the network taking coverage from London instead (and the BBC putting on the much more comprehensive ''2000 Today'' the following year to welcome the new millennium).

* David Croft was a defining name of the 1970s comedy-- ''Series/DadsArmy'' and ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'' with Jimmy Perry, ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' with Jeremy Lloyd... and, mind-bogglingly, '''''Series/ComeBackMrsNoah''''', also with Lloyd, and also starring Creator/MollieSugden. The premise: [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 21st-century]] housewife Gertrude Noah tours a space station after winning a magazine competition, only for a succession of failures to launch the station into orbit with her, roving reporter Clive Cunliffe (''Series/DadsArmy''[='=]s Creator/IanLavender), mathematicians Carstairs and Fanshaw (''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum''[='=]s Creator/DonaldHewlett and Creator/MichaelKnowles), and light bulb changer Garstang (Joe Black) aboard to keep it running until a rescue operation can be mounted. Spoof news reports from a pre-''Series/AlloAllo'' Creator/GordenKaye opened each episode. The jokes, such as they were, were mostly recycled from the above shows, especially the more sophomoric of ''[=AYBS?=]'''s sight gags. The outrageously strange and cheaply made props and sets did little to divert attention from the thin scripts. It lasted one series (six episodes), critics tearing it to shreds all the while. ''Come Back Mrs. Noah'' holds the dishonour of being the only non-ITV sitcom in the "20 worst British sitcoms" list (#13) in Mark Lewisohn's 2003 edition of ''The ''Radio Times'' Guide to TV Comedy'', and one of two Mollie Sugden vehicles present. It remains a fixture of assorted newspaper, magazine, and website "worst sitcom" lists, with ''The Daily Telegraph''[='=]s Ben Lawrence ranking it the second worst British sitcom of all time in 2015. ''Frantic Planet'' author and blogger Stuart Millard posted [[https://franticplanet.wordpress.com/2019/07/06/come-back-mrs-noah/ a detailed review]] as part of his "Shitcoms" series.

* '''''Film/{{Killdozer}}''''' (no relation to the 2004 incident) is an InNameOnly 1974 adaptation of a novella by sci-fi legend Creator/TheodoreSturgeon, which oddly enough also got a far more faithful comic book adaptation the same year, about a bulldozer possessed by an evil spirit. It jettisons everything that made the story interesting, most of all the [=WW2=] setting and interplay between the characters as they try to survive and figure out how to stop the bulldozer, and being on TV with the budget to match means there's not even any interesting kills to look forward to. The end result is that a premise you'd have to imagine could turn out something goofily fun even just by accident somehow becomes one of the most boring things you'll ever see, with listless performances backed by utterly pedestrian direction, and the bulldozer itself strictly limited to things they could actually get one to do since this was the time before CGI. While the title has understandably gone down in cult movie infamy, there's a reason you've never heard of anything else from it. This [[http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2008/11/cult-tv-movie-review-killdozer-1974.html blog post/review]] by genre historian John Kenneth Muir goes into more detail about everything wrong with the film. WebVideo/{{Phelous}} has a blast making fun of it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpp2AmlftrI here]].

# To ensure that the work is judged with a clear mind and the hatred isn't just a knee-jerk reaction, as well as to allow opinions to properly form, '''[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease examples should not be added until at least one month after release]]'''.

* That is, until 1998, when the BBC -- having not learned their lesson from last time -- decided to try again with '''''New Year Live'''''. With two well-known Scots -- comedian Fred [=MacAulay=] and Carol Smillie (of ''Changing Rooms'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' fame) -- as hosts, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, actually, resulting in what was easily the closest British equivalent to the Jamie Kennedy debacle of 2013 (see under KDOC-TV). The producer was an Englishwoman who was more experienced in daytime magazines than a live, prime time entertainment special, and it was clear from the start that the special was going to water down Hogmanay to "we're gonna have a rowdy party in a Scottish castle with celebrities". That tone was established within its opening, where the duo arrived at Edinburgh Castle in a [[SarcasmMode traditional Scottish]] helicopter, before being escorted onto the grounds on motorcycles, and introducing [[Music/DuranDuran a band from Birmingham]] singing [[Music/RioAlbum a song about Rio]]. The hosting was amateur (with Smillie -- who tended to be the [[StraightManAndWiseGuy Straight Woman to her co-host's Wise Guy]] -- repeatedly having to drag [=MacAulay=] back into the frame when he couldn't find the camera), and there were technical snafus (such as mistimed cues on the pre-recorded segments), unfunny comedy bits (and Smillie being the butt of several jokes about her [[BuxomIsBetter "Rear of the Year" award]]), and so on. Once again, critics from the North and abroad agreed that it was awful, and subsequent Hogmanay specials remained exclusive to BBC One in Scotland, with the rest of the network taking coverage from London instead (and the BBC putting on the much more comprehensive ''2000 Today'' the following year to welcome the new millennium).

* The miniseries '''''Series/{{Earthsea}}''''' takes AdaptationDecay to ridiculous new heights by poorly compressing two lengthy books into less than three hours (give ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' this, at least it mostly only adapted ''The Farthest Shore'' while bringing in some elements from the first two books and ''Tehanu''); changing the original contemplative tone of the books into a more generic HighFantasy action story; [[RaceLift whitewashes]] every single dark-skinned character (which was pretty much every named character in the books except for Tenar, including the central hero Ged) aside from Oglion, who thus becomes a [[TokenBlack Token]] MagicalNegro (ironically, the single major white character in the books, Tenar, was race lifted with a half Asian actress), and has the usual Syfy shoddy production values and writing. Unfortunately, the series is just too dull and boring to be SoBadItsGood like many of Syfy's original productions. The series was so awful that the original author Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin had nothing good to say about it, and she actually liked the divisive animated movie ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' [[SoOkayItsAverage decently]] (albeit still disappointed) after separating it mentally from her own works. All in all, ''Earthsea'' is a butchered adaptation that would most likely make people let down by ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' look back more fondly on Creator/GoroMiyazaki's shot at adapting the books.

* The miniseries '''''Series/{{Earthsea}}''''' takes AdaptationDecay to ridiculous new heights by poorly compressing two lengthy books into less than three hours (give ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' this, at least it mostly only adapted ''The Farthest Shore'' while bringing in some elements from the first two books and ''Tehanu''); changing the original contemplative tone of the books into a more generic HighFantasy action story; [[RaceLift whitewashes]] every single dark-skinned character (which was pretty much every named character in the books except for Tenar, including the central hero Ged) aside from Oglion, who thus becomes a [[TokenBlack Token]] MagicalNegro (ironically, the single major white character in the books, Tenar, was race lifted with a half Asian actress), and has the usual Syfy shoddy production values and writing. Unfortunately, the series is just too dull and boring to be SoBadItsGood like many of Syfy's original productions. The series was so awful that the original author Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin had nothing good to say about it, and she actually liked the divisive animated movie ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' [[SoOkayItsAverage decently]] (albeit still disappointed) after separating it mentally from her own works. All in all, ''Earthsea'' is a butchered adaptation that would most likely make people let down by ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' look back more fondly on Goro Miyazaki's shot at adapting the books.

* The miniseries '''''Series/{{Earthsea}}''''' takes AdaptationDecay to ridiculous new heights by poorly compressing two lengthy books into less than three hours (give ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' this, at least it mostly only adapted ''The Farthest Shore'' while bringing in some elements from the first two books and ''Tehanu''); changing the original contemplative tone of the books into a more generic HighFantasy action story; [[RaceLift whitewashes]] every single dark-skinned character (which was pretty much every named character in the books except for Tenar) aside from Oglion, who thus becomes a [[TokenBlack Token]] MagicalNegro (ironically, the single major white character in the books, Tenar, was race lifted with a half Asian actress), and has the usual Syfy shoddy production values and writing. Unfortunately, the series is just too dull and boring to be SoBadItsGood like many of Syfy's original productions. The series was so awful that the original author Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin had nothing good to say about it, and she actually liked the divisive animated movie ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' [[SoOkayItsAverage decently]] (albeit still disappointed) after separating it mentally from her own works. All in all, ''Earthsea'' is a butchered adaptation that would most likely make people let down by ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' look back more fondly on Goro Miyazaki's shot at adapting the books.

* The miniseries '''''Series/{{Earthsea}}''''' takes AdaptationDecay to ridiculous new heights by poorly compressing two lengthy books into less than three hours (give ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' this, at least it mostly only adapted ''The Farthest Shore'' while bringing in some elements from the first two books and ''Tehanu''); changing the original contemplative tone of the books into a more generic HighFantasy action story; [[RaceLift whitewashes]] every single dark-skinned character (pretty much everyone except for Tenar) except for Oglion, who is turned into a [[TokenBlack Token]] MagicalNegro (ironically, the single major white character in the books, Tenar, was race lifted into an Asian), and has the usual Syfy shoddy production values and writing. Unfortunately, the series is just too dull and boring to be SoBadItsGood like many of Syfy's original productions. The series was so awful that the original author Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin had nothing good to say about it, and she actually liked the divisive animated movie ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' [[SoOkayItsAverage decently]] (albeit still disappointed) after separating it mentally from her own works. All in all, ''Earthsea'' is a butchered adaptation that would most likely make people let down by ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' look back more fondly on Goro Miyazaki's shot at adapting the books.

* '''''Series/{{Earthsea}}''''' takes AdaptationDecay to ridiculous new heights by poorly compressing two lengthy books into less than three hours (give ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' this, at least it mostly only adapted ''The Farthest Shore'' while bringing in some elements from the first two books and ''Tehanu''); changing the original contemplative tone of the books into a more generic HighFantasy action story; [[RaceLift whitewashes]] every single dark-skinned character (pretty much everyone except for Tenar) except for Oglion, who is turned into a [[TokenBlack Token]] MagicalNegro (ironically, the single major white character in the books, Tenar, was race lifted into an Asian), and has the usual Syfy shoddy production values and writing. Unfortunately, the series is just too dull and boring to be SoBadItsGood like many of Syfy's original productions. The series was so awful that the original author Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin had nothing good to say about it, and she actually liked the divisive ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' [[SoOkayItsAverage decently]] (albeit still disappointed) after separating it from her works. All in all, ''Earthsea'' is a butchered adaptation that would most likely make people let down by ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' look back more fondly on Goro Miyazaki's shot at adapting the books.

* That is, until 1998, when the BBC -- having not learned their lesson from last time -- decided to try again with '''''New Year Live'''''. With two well-known Scots -- comedian Fred [=MacAulay=] and Carol Smillie (of ''Changing Rooms'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' fame) -- as hosts, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, actually, resulting in what was easily the closest British equivalent to the Creator/JamieKennedy debacle that played out a decade and change later (see under KDOC-TV). The producer was an Englishwoman who was more experienced in daytime magazines than a live, prime time entertainment special, and it was clear from the start that the special was going to water down Hogmanay to "we're gonna have a rowdy party in a Scottish castle with celebrities". That tone was established within its opening, where the duo arrived at Edinburgh Castle in a [[SarcasmMode traditional Scottish]] helicopter, before being escorted onto the grounds on motorcycles, and introducing [[Music/DuranDuran a band from Birmingham]] singing [[Music/RioAlbum a song about Rio]]. The hosting was amateur (with Smillie -- who tended to be the [[StraightManAndWiseGuy Straight Woman to her co-host's Wise Guy]] -- repeatedly having to drag [=MacAulay=] back into the frame when he couldn't find the camera), and there were technical snafus (such as mistimed cues on the pre-recorded segments), unfunny comedy bits (and Smillie being the butt of several jokes about her [[BuxomIsBetter "Rear of the Year" award]]), and so on. Once again, critics from the North and abroad agreed that it was awful, and subsequent Hogmanay specials remained exclusive to BBC One in Scotland, with the rest of the network taking coverage from London instead (and the BBC putting on the much more comprehensive ''2000 Today'' the following year to welcome the new millennium).

* '''''A Little Piece of Heaven''''', a 1991 MadeForTVMovie advertised as a family-friendly Christmas film. It is ''any'' of those things InNameOnly. Directed by Creator/MimiLeder, it stars Creator/KirkCameron[[labelnote:Sound familiar?]]Yes, the same Leder that directed ''Film/OnTheBasisOfSex'', and '''that''' [[Film/SavingChristmas Kirk Cameron]]; thankfully he's only the main star, but one has to wonder if this influenced ''Saving Christmas''.[[/labelnote]] as Will Loomis, trying to take care of his adoptive family's pig farm in addition to his InspirationallyDisadvantaged sister (played by Jenny Robertson) after the death of the grandparents that adopted him, but it proves to be too much for one person. Its heavy-handed themes of abuse and psychological torture are the least of its problems--the {{Designated Villain}}s (''law enforcement'') are [[IdiotBall dumb as a bag of hammers]], plot points are [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment forgotten as soon as they're introduced]], and Will himself [[KarmaHoudini gets off easy for everything]], [[DesignatedHero with the plot bending over backwards to make him in the right]]. It didn't garner much critical reception, if any, and only has a measly 3.5 rating on ''Website/IMDb'' and a 29% audience score on ''Website/RottenTomatoes'', and would have likely stayed almost completely unknown had ''WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob'' not reviewed it. [[https://youtu.be/P4PHQYYvz_g You can watch his review here]], where he displays utter shock and horror to see that this was actually aired on TV, even hypothesizing it started out as a thriller before becoming '''this'''.

* '''''The Big Bow Wow''''', based around a group of 20-something friends who hang out at the titular club, was an attempt to create a drama somewhere between ''Series/{{Friends}}'', ''Series/{{Skins}}'', and ''Series/ThisLife''. It came across more like a tourism ad for Dublin, trying to portray a lifestyle of partying around the clock in "designer pubs" as representative of the lives of ordinary young people. The show went down very poorly with viewers and critics alike, who mocked its weak storylines, horrible writing, and pretentiousness. It relied on drug use to create "edgy" storylines, but used a ''fictional'' drug (because the writers didn't want to be seen to condone drug abuse) - then turned the whole thing into a heavy-handed and amateurish DrugsAreBad message. One memorable scene, portrayed in all seriousness, involved a drug dealer going into a record store where a shop assistant directs someone to the blues section for Miles Davis. A ''real'' record store employee would know Miles Davis belongs in jazz, so the dealer knows [[BatDeduction this one must be a cop!]] The creative team were so certain of the show being renewed that they went out to the Caribbean to begin writing the second series, yet the reception was so poor that it was canned after just six (out of a planned [[BritishBrevity 13]]) episodes. The channel even condensed some episodes together (so poorly that you could still hear the opening/ending music where the credits should've played) just to get it off the air as soon as possible.

* '''''Series/OutOfJimmysHead''''' has gone down in history as one of Cartoon Network's most hated original programs, and is considered the start of the network's NetworkDecay. The series, based on a CN original movie entitled ''Re-Animated'', revolves around a teen named Jimmy Roberts, who is an ExtremeDoormat constantly exploited by [[WithFriendsLikeThese his friends]] and others at school. One day, after he somehow [[SpecialEffectsFailure gets sent flying by a slow-moving train]] in a public location in a Walt Disney World {{Expy}}, he has to have a BrainTransplant and it just so happens he receives the brain of the park's founder [[MrAltDisney Milt Appleday]] -- which inexplicably gives him the power to see the cartoons Appleday created, who help him through his everyday junior high life. It wasn't completely without potential... but sadly, they didn't even see the good that could come out of it. The acting is wooden, most of the characters are unlikable, the animated characters [[SpecialEffectsFailure are cheaply superimposed over the scenes]], and the LaughTrack is especially overused and out-of-place since the series is mostly an attempt to emulate {{Kid Com}}s like ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide''. The series was canned after only 20 episodes as the network used the 2007 Writers' Strike to end it without much fan anguish, and gained a hatedom the size of the Empire State Building, "earning" a 2.1 [=IMDb=] rating. Cartoon Network seem ashamed of it as well, as they never put it out on DVD outside of ''Re-Animated'' and never aired it again, with half of the series being lost media until user CRB uploaded recordings with English audio from when they were airing in Germany. [[https://workupload.com/archive/zMkvU4JWfP It can be found here.]] Sadly, they didn't learn from their mistakes and this show is probably what paved the way for other later live-action "CN Real" shows like the aforementioned ''Dude, What Would Happen?''. It doesn't help that it was directed by the same person who made ''Film/SonOfTheMask''. Watch what WebVideo/TheMysteriousMrEnter had to say about ''[[https://youtu.be/LqFsJJGfWh8 Re-]][[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4ykW8P3qxo Animated]]'' for what was his 150th ''Animated Atrocities'' video and then [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d74HY2EQ-mw the show itself three years later.]] WebVideo/{{PIEGUYRULZ}} also discusses both ''Re-Animated'' and ''Out of Jimmy's Head'' with fellow [=YouTubers=] Cosmodore and [=MonstersReview=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ataO2OpWSFg here]]. And [[http://rowdyc.com/tv-trash-reanimatedout-of-jimmys-head/ here]]'s [[WebVideo/TVTrash The Rowdy Reviewer]]'s take, who was also convinced that it was a ploy by CN to sabotage their animation business as well as animation in general.

* That is, until 1998, when the BBC -- having not learned their lesson from last time -- decided to try again with '''''New Year Live'''''. With two well-known Scots -- comedian Fred [=MacAulay=] and Carol Smillie (of ''Changing Rooms'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' fame) -- as hosts, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, actually, resulting in what was easily the closest British equivalent to the Creator/JamieKennedy debacle that played out a decade and change later (see under KDOC-TV). The producer was an Englishwoman who was more experienced in daytime magazines than a live, prime time entertainment special, and it was clear from the start that the special was going to water down Hogmanay to "we're gonna have a rowdy party in a Scottish castle with celebrities". That tone was established within its opening, where the duo arrived at Edinburgh Castle in a [[SarcasmMode traditional Scottish]] helicopter, before being escorted onto the grounds on motorcycles, and introducing [[Music/DuranDuran a band from Birmingham]] singing [[Music/RioAlbum a song about Rio]]. The hosting was amateur (with Smillie -- who tended to be the [[StraightManAndWiseGuy Straight Woman to her co-host's Wise Guy]] -- repeatedly having to drag [=MacAulay=] back into the frame when he couldn't find the camera), and there were technical snafus (such as mistimed cues on the pre-recorded segments), unfunny comedy bits (primarily about butts, given Smillie's [[BuxomIsBetter "Rear of the Year"]] award), and so on. Once again, critics from the North and abroad agreed that it was awful, and subsequent Hogmanay specials remained exclusive to BBC One in Scotland, with the rest of the network taking coverage from London instead (and the BBC putting on the much more comprehensive ''2000 Today'' the following year to welcome the new millennium).

* '''''Series/TheWrightWay''''', a 2013 sitcom by Creator/BenElton that was lambasted on Twitter and widely panned by critics. The main character and much of the "comedy" were recycled from ''Series/TheThinBlueLine'', ignoring the fact that it was 20 years old and hadn't been well-received in itself. The premise (an uptight health and safety inspector who dictates the lives of his family and colleagues) somehow managed to both reinforce Elton's unpopular public image as a humorless, overly politically correct left-winger, and come across as a desperate attempt to pander to right-wingers who are opposed to anything more than the most basic health and safety laws. The show lurched between jokes that would have been hackneyed in Elton's 80s heyday, and [[TotallyRadical cringe-inducing attempts to be modern]] (a character whose CharacterCatchphrase was "OMG, that is SO a Website/YouTube moment!"), the same "hilarious" monologue about chest/scrotum-waxing was repeated almost verbatim in every episode, and visual gags were [[DontExplainTheJoke handily pointed out]] for the viewer, just in case they didn't get it. In particular, the show was noted for its over-reliance on penis jokes and SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. No one was sorry when it was abruptly cancelled after one season.

* '''''Awesomeness TV''''' was Nickelodeon's attempt at creating their own version of ''Series/IncredibleCrew'' (already critically contentious in its own right and [[ShortRunners lasting only a single season]]), except ''Awesomeness TV'' had its own major issues, especially as the "unskippable Website/YouTube-playlist in 22 minutes" format it had meant a lot more skits that clunked than hit. The hosts weren't remotely engaging (Daniella Monet from ''Series/{{Victorious}}'' seemed to only be there to fulfill her contract to the network and couldn't do much with the material), and had a cheery "putting on a show" mentality which seemed cloying to the audience. ''WebVideo/{{Smosh}}'' hosted an episode, but didn't feel like [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids their regular selves]], for instance. The amateurish quality of the skits didn't help much at all, with those that weren't recycled from the [=YouTube=] channel the series was based on feeling more mean-spirited than funny [[note]](for instance, one sketch seemingly inspired by a creatively bankrupt Website/GoAnimate video has a rowdy family beat up a poor, innocent teacher for giving their daughter a detention)[[/note]] and the characters having few redeeming characteristics. The jokes are poorly written [[note]](such as this joke: "Most people think an Apocalypse is the ultimate bummer, but turn that down and what do you have? A hap-ocalypse!")[[/note]] and the LaughTrack never shuts up, not even at the worst jokes. It was horrible enough to score a 1.0 out of 10 for a '''whole year''' on TV.com before getting brought up to a slightly less painful 3.1, and Website/IMDb had no less hate for the show. Unfortunately for Nick (and Daniella) they signed a two-season contract where they had to fulfill the airing deal before the network could finally abandon their disastrous run of [=DreamWorks=] shows, but not before somehow getting Creator/LiaMarieJohnson’s skit character Terry the Tomboy a 90-minute TV-film that was dumped on one of Nick's weekday holidays.

* '''''Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth''''', a live Australian stand-up[=/=]sketch-comedy[=/=]variety show starring comedian Creator/BenElton. It was intended as something of a comeback for Elton, who'd been absent from the comedy scene for a while. It was also intended as a flagship for the Nine Network. Unfortunately, the material was dated, ineptly presented, and largely unfunny; it impressed almost no one. During the premiere, viewing figures dropped from 805,000 at the start (it was scheduled to start after ''Series/TopGear'' in primetime) to 233,000 by the end, with about 200,000 people dropping out every 15 minutes... and if the reaction on Website/{{Twitter}} and other social networking sites was anything to go by, most of those who hung around watched solely to rip it to shreds. Critics were by and large no more generous: typical reviews took the lines "an early contender for worst show of the year" or "a screaming, embarrassing failure". It lasted three weeks, shedding even more viewers, before being cancelled. One of the worst sections of the whole thing was ''Girl Flat'', a sitcom in which Music/LadyGaga, Music/{{Beyonce}}, Music/LilyAllen, and Music/AmyWinehouse share a flat. It comes off like every line was ripped from crappy Website/YouTube comments - apparently, the writers thought that a famous woman saying "vagina" was the funniest thing to grace our planet.

* Douglas Mair's failed attempt to adapt ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' - officially named '''''The Three Railway Engines''''' after the series' first book but commonly called ''The Sad Story of Henry'' after [[OneEpisodeWonder the only episode ever broadcast]] - [[MissingEpisode was never recorded]], but correspondence between the BBC and series author the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, a memo from the BBC Controller of Programmes calling it "pathetic", and contemporary news articles all paint a picture of a complete and utter [[{{Pun}} trainwreck]], never mind it making front-page news [[WorstNewsJudgmentEver over a murder trial]]. It was broadcast live, and since this was 1953, the technology Mair needed to make it work with a model rail either hadn't been invented yet, was excessively complicated for a children's programme, or was too expensive. Mair simply had too much to deal with - superimposed rain (which was a plot point), live narration from a [[PragmaticAdaptation freely adapted script]], and a Hornby OO-gauge model railway. Said railway was two thirds of the reason it went so wrong - the BBC [[AnimationAgeGhetto clearly did not take railway modelling seriously as a hobby]], as they appointed somebody who had no skill at it and later expressed regret that they didn't hire a child instead. Thus, the models moved jerkily, and some even derailed, one having to be put back on ''in front of the camera''. With Awdry, the ''Railway Series'' editor Eric Marriott, and the latter's family watching. Announcer Noelle Middleton was forced to repeatedly go off-script to cover for the operator's mistakes. [[https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/File:DailyHerald1953-06-23.png Even Awdry called them out for this in particular.]] The BBC [[https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/File:DailyNews1953-06-23.png postponed]] - and ultimately canceled - the rest of the series, as Awdry was now reluctant to have his work adapted at all. Further attempts by the BBC to televise Reverend Awdry's stories amounted to them being read on ''Series/{{Jackanory}}'', and it would be another 31 years until [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends it went any further than that]]--this could've outright killed the legendary franchise before it could even start. Read about Mair's disaster, and other adaptation attempts, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190313210356/http://www.sodor-island.net/thetvserieshistory.html here]].

* '''''Series/TheWrightWay''''', a 2013 sitcom by Creator/BenElton that was lambasted on Twitter and widely panned by critics. The main character and much of the "comedy" were recycled from ''Series/TheThinBlueLine'', ignoring the fact that it was 20 years old and hadn't been well-received in itself. The premise (an uptight health and safety inspector who dictates the lives of his family and colleagues) somehow managed to both reinforce Elton's unpopular public image as a humorless, overly politically correct left-winger, and come across as a desperate attempt to pander to right-wingers who are opposed to anything more than the most basic health and safety laws. The show lurched between jokes that would have been hackneyed in Elton's 80s heyday, and [[TotallyRadical cringe-inducing attempts to be modern]] (a character whose catchphrase was "OMG, that is SO a Website/YouTube moment!"), the same "hilarious" monologue about chest/scrotum-waxing was repeated almost verbatim in every episode, and visual gags were [[DontExplainTheJoke handily pointed out]] for the viewer, just in case they didn't get it. In particular, the show was noted for its over-reliance on penis jokes and SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. No one was sorry when it was abruptly cancelled after one season.

* '''''Series/HeilHoneyImHome''''': A {{sitcom}} (yes, a sitcom) about UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and Eva Braun living next door to a Jewish family. They apparently tried to kill the Jewish family every week, but the Jewish family remained blissfully unaware of Hitler's treachery. Ironically, this was conceived as a ''parody'' of terrible sitcoms - the pilot tries to spoof the old [[DinnerWithTheBoss "my boss is coming to dinner"]] plot with UsefulNotes/NevilleChamberlain - but unfortunately [[PoesLaw it ended up becoming the very thing it tried to parody]]. Humor is almost nonexistent, the main concept's played straight, Hitler's no different than any other sitcom husband, and his attempt at a catchphrase is the incredibly stupid "I'm a very, very bad Hitler!" One of the strangest things ever seen on TV, it appealed to nobody and hasn't been aired in its entirety on network television since, although the pilot episode is readily available [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf9jJx0NSjw online.]] Six episodes were filmed, but only one aired. Ben Lawrence of ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked it at #8 on his 2015 "10 worst British sitcoms ever made" list, saying "The brilliance of the title couldn't make up for the chronic bad taste of this series." Creator/BradJones' ''WebVideo/DVDRHell'' review of the pilot is [[http://thecinemasnob.com/dvd-r-hell/dvd-r-hell-heil-honey-im-home here]] and WebVideo/TVTrash ripped it right [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20pgwz here]].

* '''''Odd Man Out''''' showed that it wasn't just Creator/MollieSugden who foundered in projects taken up to pass the time between series of ''Series/AreYouBeingServed''; this 1977 sitcom from Thames Television starred Creator/JohnInman as Neville Sutcliffe, a Blackpool chip shop owner who inherits half a share in a Littlehampton rock factory from his long-lost father (the other half going to his half-sister Dorothy, played by Creator/JosephineTewson). The series relied even more heavily than ''[=AYBS?=]'' on exchanges that implied (without ever actually saying) that Inman's character was gay, exemplified by the unmemorable CatchPhrase "How's your rock, cock?". Critics were outraged by the lowbrow "seaside postcard" humour (starting with the titles, which opened with a stylised seaside postcard drawing of Inman astride a large multicoloured stick of rock), leading ''Odd Man Out'' to be axed after a single seven-episode series; today, the innuendo seems rather tame, if badly dated, and the series' main crime is being painfully laugh-free. ''Odd Man Out'' was ranked the third worst British sitcom ever made in 2015 by ''The Daily Telegraph''[='=]s Ben Lawrence (who described it as "terrible") and is one of two John Inman vehicles to land with a thud on the "20 worst British sitcoms" list in the 2003 edition of Mark Lewisohn's ''The ''Radio Times'' Guide to TV Comedy'', at #5 (the other, 1981's ''Take a Letter, Mr Jones'',[[note]]Which did amazingly get 21st century airtime on the British vintage-leaning channel Talking Pictures TV - likely due the channel's owners owning the Southern Television library. This was amazingly released on DVD in 2009.[[/note]] fared slightly better at #17); the accompanying review said, "In the form of seaside rock ... this series had 'appalling' running all the way through it."[[note]]Inman and Sugden took their ill-fated roles in ''Odd Man Out'' and ''Come Back Mrs. Noah'' at around the same time for the same reason; the death in 1977 of their ''Are You Being Served?'' castmate Creator/ArthurBrough had put a question mark over the series' future, so they decided to take on other projects until they knew for certain whether ''[=AYBS?=]'' would return.[[/note]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL7YLQMu-c8 Here's an episode so you can see how bad it was]].

* The 1972-75 London Weekend Television sitcom ''Romany Jones'', which starred ''Series/DadsArmy''[='s=] James Beck as a professional layabout named Bert Jones who indulges his inner gypsy by moving with his wife to a caravan site in a field,[[note]] In the first series, at least; Beck's untimely death in 1973 required the replacement of the Joneses with the UpperClassTwit Crichton-Joneses.[[/note]] was never a critical darling, but the LWT brass somehow got the notion the Joneses' neighbours, Wally and Lil Briggs (Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts), could hold their own in a spinoff. The result was '''''Yus, My Dear''''', which ran for 19 episodes across two series in 1976 and was even more critically reviled than its parent series; Mark Lewisohn branded it "one of the most excruciating sitcoms of all time, a real black spot on [writers Ronald] Wolfe and [Ronald] Chesney's CV" and ranked it #2 on the "20 worst British sitcoms" list in ''The ''Radio Times'' Guide to TV Comedy'' (while ''Romany Jones'', described by Lewisohn as "appalling", landed at #9), and Ben Lawrence of ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked it at #6 on his "10 worst British sitcoms ever made" list in 2015. The new series found Wally and Lil living in a council house, and the hackneyed, laugh-free plots revolved around Wally's ne'er-do-well brother Benny (a pre-''Series/EastEnders'' Mike Reid) - never mentioned in the previous series - moving in and repeatedly conning the dim-witted Wally out of the wages from his bricklaying job, inevitably leading to Lil finding out and unleashing hell on both of them, while the crass behaviour that had nauseated critics in ''Romany Jones'' returned in abundance in ''Yus, My Dear'', typified by a scene in which Wally eats a sandwich while taking a bath. Most Britons born after 1975 (and some born before then) already struggle to understand how Arthur Mullard became a TV fixture, but even his fans find little to defend in ''Yus, My Dear''.

* '''''The Mick Molloy Show''''' (1998): Sensing that they needed to take an edgier, younger approach to entertainment into the 21st century, the Nine Network axed its long running ''Series/HeyHeyItsSaturday'' and as a potential Saturday night replacement gave former “D-Generation” member and comedy writer Mick Molloy his own program. However Nine may have had some regrets when Molloy’s opening monologue on the first episode had him seen to be urinating on the set (an act that led many viewers to assume he actually was drunk on set, rather than just feigning drunkenness), and the same episode featured footage of a contestant vomiting at a beer-drinking competition. The show also featured 'Mini-Mick', a parody of Mini-Me from the ''Film/AustinPowers'' movies, whose CatchPhrase was "Blow it out your arse!" and was generally a more vulgar version of Mick, often yelling obscenities at people. Viewers were unimpressed, and even though Nine took the unusual step of committing to twenty episodes without seeing a pilot, only eight went to air.

* While it might have seemed like a good idea at the time to give the then-most subscribed [=YouTube=] personality[[note]]Albeit with waning popularity by 2012, in no small part thanks to [[FleetingDemographic its original audience outgrowing it over time]].[[/note]] his own sitcom, '''''Fred: The Show''''' ended up being a huge disaster. While WebVideo/{{Fred}} might have been palatable to a number of people in three-minute increments, his [[HeliumSpeech artificially high-pitched voice]], obnoxious [[GrossUpCloseUp close-ups]] and BrattyHalfPint attitude quickly become ''insufferable'' over the course of a thirteen-minute episode, or worse yet, ''three'' TV movies. The writing didn't help, putting Fred in cliché high school stories rife with stereotypical characters played by bad actors (who look [[DawsonCasting far too old]] to play middle schoolers)... and that's just the rare occasions the show even had a discernible plot beyond Fred running around screaming. Even considering those who enjoyed the webseries, the television pacing ruins the RapidFireComedy that made Fred so popular online. The pilot movie received a resounding '''''0%''''' on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie also received a 1.9 on [=IMDb=], with its two sequels getting a 2.4 and a 2, respectively, and the show itself receiving a 1.6 and sits comfortably at #3 of the website's list of the worst-rated TV shows. Watch WebVideo/IHateEverything and WebVideo/{{ralphthemoviemaker}} rip the TV movies apart [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr7ySzPHN-4 here.]] [=WatchMojo=] ranked it as the #2 worst TV show ever [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_LtkY3u4qM here]], [[WebVideo/RebelTaxi Pan Pizza]] included it on his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3FTrSd4dys Top 10 Worst Nickelodeon Moments and Controversies]], and WebVideo/PhantomStrider labelled it as both [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2_rct9cHUo the worst Nickelodeon show ever]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJQpFfH-8Dc the worst sitcom ever.]] [[WebVideo/{{Lucas}} Lucas Cruikshank]] even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQsos2u1CxI made a video]] reacting to the show [[CreatorBacklash with much regret]]. The show [[FranchiseKiller killed the [=YouTube=] channel as well,]] with much of the channel's popularity imploding after the show aired.

* Nickelodeon's action programming block, '''''Series/NickStudio10''''', was almost universally and passionately loathed. Presented as live, it had multiple instant replays and cameras of stunts which suggested otherwise. The sketches by themselves are already dreadfully unfunny and the block hosts were only able to do so much with the material given, but by far the most infamous reason that so few people like it is because they ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6gEUkeSbDA randomly interrupted other shows]]'' with "Important Public Service Announcements" [[note]](though these took place mainly during Nick's neverending ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob|SquarePants}}'' marathons)[[/note]] that boil down to little more than the same random sort of antics you would expect to see on a 10-year-old boy's ''VideoGame/{{Roblox}}'' account. Viewers were annoyed by this practice, and the block had several different petitions calling for its cancellation: a search for it on Google will bring up its Wikipedia page and, from there, nothing but loathing for it. The network quickly gave up on having a Twitter account for the show (one alleged to be "real" was clearly a racist parody), while they gave up on their Facebook outside of one brave social media manager a few months later; it finally ended after Labor Day 2013 with a [[QuietlyCancelled quiet cancellation]] after the summer break. It [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MqjUpOOoTw spawned]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMhfWO2HE1Q an]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BGR-fFMs18 entire]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOofWP2g268 series]] of rants done by The Archfiend. [[WebVideo/RebelTaxi Pan Pizza]] also references this in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3FTrSd4dys his Top 10 Worst Nickelodeon Moments and Controversies]].

* '''''Social Nightmare''''', a 2013 effort from Creator/TheAsylum about an A-student who's getting ready to go to college when someone starts posting inappropriate pictures of her that she sent to her boyfriend, putting offensive updates on other people's pages, and generally trying hard to ruin her life. It's filled with ridiculous plot points (the guy our heroine goes to for help decides to try and rape her just because), terrible dialogue, the worst {{Foreshadowing}} in history, and a villain so blindingly obvious that the Blu-ray actually [[SpoilerTitle has the movie's name changed]] to [[spoiler:''Mother'']]. The wrap-up is wholly unbelievable and filled with MoodWhiplash - whatever Creator/KirstenProut (the daughter), Creator/ChloeBridges (her best friend, also targeted), and Creator/DarylHannah (the daughter's mother) got paid for this, it wasn't enough.

* '''''Series/TurnOn''''' was a TotallyRadical [[SketchComedy sketch "comedy"]] program on ABC in 1969. Inspired and produced by some of the same people who made the ''actual'' hit show ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', it took everything in '''that''' show and turned it up to eleven. It was canned before the premiere had finished its half-hour run, though most of the ABC stations at least let it finish running. [[note]]At least four affiliates didn't even wait ''that'' long: UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}'s WEWS and UsefulNotes/{{Denver}}'s KBTV (now Creator/{{NBC}} station KUSA) cut away from the network for a documentary on gun safety, while KATU in UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon and WHNC {now WTNH} in Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut didn't air the show at all.[[/note]] It tried to be psychedelic and just the sort of thing the young 'uns would dig (something television as a medium has never been good at) and surreal (which it perhaps succeeded at too well), along with being more openly sexual than shows normally got back then (which was the reason why TV executives and censors hated the show and wanted it to die). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxs5ki5e8nE Here's the long-lost pilot.]][[note]] About the only positive thing you could say about the show is that it had Hamilton Camp & Chuck [=McCann=] in the cast, both of whom would go on to be staples of the Disney Afternoon. [[/note]]

* That is, until 1998, when the BBC -- having not learned their lesson from last time -- decided to try again with '''''New Year Live'''''. With two well-known Scots -- comedian Fred [=MacAulay=] and Carol Smillie (of ''Changing Rooms'' and ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' fame) -- as hosts, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot, actually, resulting in what was easily the closest British equivalent to the Creator/JamieKennedy debacle that played out a decade and change later (see under KDOC-TV). The producer was an Englishwoman who was more experienced in daytime magazines than a live, prime time entertainment special, and it was clear from the start that the special was going to water down Hogmanay to "we're gonna have a rowdy party in a Scottish castle with celebrities". That tone was established within its opening, where the duo arrived at Edinburgh Castle in a [[SarcasmMode traditional Scottish]] helicopter, before being escorted onto the grounds on motorcycles, and introducing [[Music/DuranDuran a band from Manchester]] singing [[Music/RioAlbum a song about Rio]]. The hosting was amateur (with Smillie -- who tended to be the [[StraightManAndWiseGuy Straight Woman to her co-host's Wise Guy]] -- repeatedly having to drag [=MacAulay=] back into the frame when he couldn't find the camera), and there were technical snafus (such as mistimed cues on the pre-recorded segments), unfunny comedy bits (primarily about butts, given Smillie's [[BuxomIsBetter "Rear of the Year"]] award), and so on. Once again, critics from the North and abroad agreed that it was awful, and subsequent Hogmanay specials remained exclusive to BBC One in Scotland, with the rest of the network taking coverage from London instead (and the BBC putting on the much more comprehensive ''2000 Today'' the following year to welcome the new millennium).

* From the 1950's to 1985, a television fixture in Britain had been [[NewYearHasCome New Year's specials]] from Scotland, themed around the country's traditional Hogmanay festivities. They tended to be kitschy, overloaded with tartanry galore (because everyone knows Scotland is the land of [[ManInAKilt kilts]], accordions, and bagpipes), and comedy acts that the average viewer wouldn't understand unless they were a Scot themselves. They were influential enough that even Creator/{{ITV}} were doing its own as a competitor. In 1984, after the specials had become increasingly trashy and rowdy, the BBC decided to see if they could put together something classy that could showcase the distinct Scottish traditions, yet still be accessible to a wider audience. The result, '''''Live Into 85''''', was a disaster. On paper, the special appeared to have a good foundation: presenter Tom O'Connor was a familiar face on light entertainment programmes and game shows of the era, the Gleneagles Hotel was well-equipped for a broadcast of this magnitude, and they had managed to book names such as Series/EurovisionSongContest winners Bucks Fizz and ''Series/NameThatTune'' vocalist Maggie Moone to perform alongside the lineup of largely Scottish mainstays. But then things fell apart: Bucks Fizz were replaced by Modern Romance after a tour bus crash in mid-December. The BBC couldn't exclusively book the venue, so many of the scenes were littered with revelers -- probably unaware they were on live television -- getting in the way, messing with the cameras (among other technical issues), and one even trying to put their hand up Moone's legs. John Grieve performed his New Year's poem, but [[{{Corpsing}} drunkenly stumbled on his first attempt]]. The "first-footer" -- the Scottish tradition of the first person to enter a home during a new year bringing good fortune -- was a confused Chic Murray, who had no idea what he was supposed to be doing because one of the bagpipe players (who stayed in the ballroom after their performance because it was cold outside) was in the way of the teleprompter. He wasn't in good health either, and died the following month. The special was scalded by critics -- especially in Scotland -- who considered it an embarrassment to the country, and was an auld acquaintance that ''really'' needed to be forgotten (except [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCd9_4xJj2Q on YouTube]]). It also turned out to be a GenreKiller for Hogmanay-themed specials outside of Scotland, leading the BBC, as well as the other networks, to either reformat or abandon their specials altogether.

* '''''Joe Piscopo: A Night at Club Piscopo''''', an hour-long stand-up special from 2012, featuring Creator/JoePiscopo reeking head-to-toe of [[AudienceAlienatingEra washed-up-ness]]. Alongside horrid Creator/DavidLetterman and Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger impressions, ''[[{{Padding}} two-thirds]]'' of the show features Piscopo playing music with his backing band. He goes in between the worst PissTakeRap, playing [[MasterOfNone several musical instruments with very little competence]], and incorporating [[FromBadToWorse worse impressions]] of Music/JamesBrown (a bit [[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} stolen from]] Creator/EddieMurphy) and Music/JohnnyCash (singing public domain songs). The special is scattershot with awkward banter and interviews so self-congratulatory and ridden with namedrops it borders on autofellatio. The real kicker, as pointed out when [[Radio/OpieAndAnthony Opie, Anthony, and Jim Norton]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmTBwEgU1Ao eviscerated the show]], is that the special was scraped together from two nights of Piscopo's casino/cruise act in Atlantic City. [[FridgeHorror There were thousands exposed to this toxic shit, not just in New Jersey nightclubs.]] There is very little audience reaction and constant dead air after punch lines, to the point that even Piscopo himself looks visibly uncomfortable at times (and leading one to wonder why they didn't even try to add a LaughTrack). The special stands with a ''1.8/10'' on {{Website/IMDb}}; 75% of the ratings are 1/10's with Opie & Anthony and the sole review (also a 1/10) comparing Piscopo to [[Film/TheKingOfComedy Rupert Pupkin]].