Wasted Talent: Shows That Never Lived Up To Their Potential

[SmithW6079]

"Enterprise" never lived up to its potential. There was so much future history Rodenberry had embedded within the "Star Trek" universe that could have been mined for this show, things that were either explicitly or implicitly stated, but the producers decided to create new villains or destructive events, ones that we never heard about. The one thing they did right was have two episodes in the "Mirror, Mirror" universe -- an entire series based in that universe would have been interesting.

[ganesh]

No, an entire series in the Mirror Universe would have been too much. I thought the show was ok. This is the first time I've heard a complaint about it not being tied to TOS enough. Typically, there's complaints that the last season only focused on stuff like that and the show wasn't allowed to stand on its own. 

[kassygreene]

And then, with the re-booted movies, Enterprise now does feed into the "future" "series".  I consider it to be an uncredited Assiti Shard, and since I like the 1632 series, I can cope.  

[Kel Varnsen]

Was thinking about the 2006 legal TV series Justice recently. Was a pretty cool concept for a legal procedural with defense firm that took on cases where the client was sometimes innocent and sometimes not. At the end of the episode after the verdict happened they showed what actually happened. Plus it had a post-Alias Victor Garber, a post Oz/pre-Chicago Fire Eamonn Walker, and a pre-Lost Rebecca Mader. Kind of an awesome cast. As I said I thought the concept was really cool I think maybe the episode plots didn't really work. I still remember the first episode where Garber's character made a speech about how in a criminal trial the prosecution has a crazy advantage and win the vast majority of the time, so that people who get arrested deserve the best defense possible.

[andromeda331]

Murder in the First -- the first season was great, I thought.  By focusing on one case for the entirety of the season, they could explore the intricacies of a trial, not just a couple of witnesses and forensic evidence.  It was compelling.  (Of course, Tom Felton gets at least partial credit for that.)

I loved that show. The first season was really great.

[satrunrose]

 

Murder in the First -- the first season was great, I thought.  By focusing on one case for the entirety of the season, they could explore the intricacies of a trial, not just a couple of witnesses and forensic evidence.  It was compelling.  (Of course, Tom Felton gets at least partial credit for that.)

I was in grade 7 when Murder in the First came out and my friends and I were obsessed with it (and Sailor Moon, we were eclectic in our geekyness). We would dissect every episode meticulously on our way to school every week. Second season, we watched an episode or two and then never spoke of it again. 

[Raja]

Is it too early to put Sleepy Hollow

I think so I think they had a plan with the wife and stuck with it even after striking gold with the buddy cop story. But the second season finale all but promised a soft reboot

[ganesh]

I didn't have nearly a problem with Sleepy Hollow that much of fandom did. It was clear that TPTB had a long term plan, which I'm always willing to cut slack for, but I do think the execution could have been better. 

 

I agree the buddy cop aspect of the show was its strongest. 

 

Actually, I commend TPTBs. They wanted to tell the story they wanted to tell, but it just wasn't working the way they thought it would, so they sucked it up and planned out the soft reboot. The reverse pilot finale probably wasn't initially intended, but it was a good episode of television. The 'slide to open' is one of the best sight gags in tv history.

 

This is a really good case of 'know the show you have'. The show they have is the buddy cop show. So, they scapped the show they wanted and are going with the show they have. Usually, TPTBs will just run a show into the ground and be like "you just don't get it."

[mansonlamps]

Was thinking about the 2006 legal TV series Justice recently. Was a pretty cool concept for a legal procedural with defense firm that took on cases where the client was sometimes innocent and sometimes not. At the end of the episode after the verdict happened they showed what actually happened. Plus it had a post-Alias Victor Garber, a post Oz/pre-Chicago Fire Eamonn Walker, and a pre-Lost Rebecca Mader. Kind of an awesome cast. As I said I thought the concept was really cool I think maybe the episode plots didn't really work. I still remember the first episode where Garber's character made a speech about how in a criminal trial the prosecution has a crazy advantage and win the vast majority of the time, so that people who get arrested deserve the best defense possible.

I loved this show.

[Haleth]

I think so I think they had a plan with the wife and stuck with it even after striking gold with the buddy cop story. But the second season finale all but promised a soft reboot

That's good to hear.  I may start watching again if the focus goes back to Abbie and Ichabod.  Hilarity ensues.

[DittyDotDot]

See, I just never felt like the show itself lived up to it's potential, whether they focused on the buddy cops or the witchy wife. I only watched the first season and found most of the episodes rather meh, in the end. It rallied a bit in the middle of the first season, but I lost interest in it again by the end. So, yeah, I'd put Sleepy Hollow in this category. But, I understand that others wouldn't. It's all good.

[ByTor]

The Secret Circle could have been great cheesy CW fare, but it was a total miss.

I agree, I actually miss that show :(

[Actionmage]

I'll add NBC's The Player.  It was an action/thriller/long-term mystery series with Phillip Winchester (as the titular Player), Wesley Snipes and Charity Wakefield. They worked in some ulter-hyper 1% sometimes illegal gambling establishment. The Pit Boss (Snipes) set the bet for The Player (Winchester) to see if he could achieve and The House (Wakefield) was allowed to assist the Player.

 

It was only nine episodes, but they were slowly building the world and Mr. Johnson's/The Pit Boss' background. The same with Cassandra/The House. I believe there was talk of "expanding" locations and opening up the series' world while Alex Kane, our Player, was hunting his McGuffin. Not that Las Vegas and Nevada aren't attractive.

 

It wasn't high art, but it was fun.  There were nits to be picked, but the cast and locations were nice to look at. There were genuine laughs and genuine thrills.

 

I just think it deserved a proper send-off.

[blugirlami21]

I'll say sleepy hollow now for sure. Also fear the walking dead, legends of tomorrow, and supergirl.

[amaranta]

Nashville.  Great cast of actors, lots of good singers / musicians.  I'm not a country fan, but some of the music has been good; they lean more toward country-rock or singer-songwriter stuff anyway.  But no, they veered right into soap opera territory.  Bad soap.  Very bad.  And with lots of scenes lasting 30 seconds or less most of the characters come off as two dimensional stereotypes.  Even Connie Britton has not been able to rise above and I loved her in Friday Night Lights.  With others you can see the talent but they just can't overcome the awful writing.

 

I read if they get renewed they're getting new writers / show runners.  But it might be too late.

[Blergh]

Girl Meets World-

OK, it was cool that they wanted to revive Boy Meets World and it was intriguing that they'd have had Cory and Topanga as parents of the new series' protagonist a teen girl while Cory has become a teacher. I also liked the character of Maya and thought the performer who played her Sabrina Carpenter did an outstanding job of playing the protagonist's bestie troubled but supportive pal.  Also, while the character of Farkle  Minkus started out as a live-action cartoon, I have to say that the performer Corey (with an e) Fogelmanis gave him far more depth than the scripts called for making it believable that this genius kid would be genuinely liked by the protagonists and appreciated for what he was (and vice versa)  though not without occasional angst and it was good to see that he had a positive paternal bond with his father Stuart Minkus ! Oh, also Minkus (Lee Norris) himself had the ultimate Revenge of the Nerd in that he not only wound up with a loving, supportive family (including having somewhat tamed and become happily married to the BMW former shrew Jennifer Bassett[Kristanna Loken]) but also was quite successful, no longer wore glasses , flew a helicopter AND, on a shallow note, the performer wound up aging the best of BMW alums to become a slightly nerdy but downright handsome man who appeared to be Farkle's collegian  brother rather than father ( a la Rob Lowe and his sons  ). Also, I liked the character of Farkle's initial nemesis who became his love interest Isadora Smackle played by  Cecilia Balagot who gave this character heart and made her likable in spite of the scripts' limitations  . Truly, Isadora seemed on the verge of becoming a teenaged Lilith Sternin-Crane (why was she rarely called by her cool first name instead mainly by   her harsh surname, I never understood). .   Also, good to see the former BMW bully Harvey (AKA Harley) Keiner (Danny McNulty)being contrite and a supportive friend to Cory & his students and actually taking pride in being a janitor! Also, good to see appearances by Rider Strong and William Daniels playing Shawn and Mr. Feeny who, as always, did the best they could have with the scripts.  Those are the positive points.

 

Here's the negatives: One is the laugh-track! Yes, I know it was a comedy (and one for Disney) but it was a bit much for it to laugh at virtually every other sentence with machine gun dry-cough like guffaws except when the characters were supposed to be serious but that never lasted very long.  BTW, I've never encountered  anyone who actually laughs machine-gun dry cough like guffaws for one second at a stretch as this laugh track always did for the 'jokes'.  Worst laugh track since Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet!

Also, Cory and Topanga were supposed to be a teacher and lawyer as well as parents but these supposedly grown professionals   seemed more concerned with wanting to stay their kids' (and kid's friends') pals than actually disciplining them when they were out of line. And Cory didn't even attempt to pretend he wasn't favoring his daughter Riley in his classroom letting her calling him 'Dad' instead of 'Mr. Matthews', etc. 

Oh,and it bugged me that he let Maya call him 'Matthews' instead of insisting on 'Mr. Matthews' in class.  Hello, he was her teacher- not her flunky (sorry both my parents were teachers so I may be biased here).  I get she was rebellious and had a chip on her shoulder for good reason but even her eventual stepfather Shawn Hunter (whose own issues appeared to make Maya's seem like a bad day in kindergarten) somehow managed to always address  Mr. Feeny in class. using his   title and surname not just 'Feeny' despite his openly rebellious nature. Eric could be somewhat excused for FEE-NAY-HEY because he was comic relief and one of the dullest knives in the catalog.  

Also, the whole  Bay Window and Apartment Front Door being NEVER locked was a bit much for NYC (yes, I know it was a sitcom not a documentary) . Hello, my father grew up there in the 1920's and EVEN BACK THEN everyone locked their doors and kept their windows latched so why would any scriptwriter think anyone with a brain living in NYC wouldn't do so in the 2010's? Yeah, Maya, Farkle, Lucas and Zay were all perfectly harmless folks to climb into the Bay Window and Kid Brother Auggie's preteen girlfriend Ava  perfectly harmless to walk into the Apartment Front Door but one can't guarantee that they'd be the ONLY folks to ever try getting into the place (moreover one couldn't guarantee that nothing would happen to Maya, Ava or Farkle climbing/ running around by themselves on the streets, fire  escape and hallway). 

Lucas was a Gary Stu- a smart, loyal, incredibly strong and handsome teen who only was worried about possibly unleashing his temper but who seemed  content to permanently orbit Riley, Maya and Farkle far more than Topanga had done with Cory and Shawn and even his late arrival  sidekick Zay just joined him in doing so and cracking jokes rather than encourage him to become even semi-autonomous.

That leads to another negative- while of course every teen needs friends and friends are to be treasured& appreciated, it seemed a bit much that Riley couldn't seem to take a step even in her own bedroom without all her peer besties constantly hovering over her- and never once did she consider worrying about Maya's or Farkle's safety re coming/going to the Bay Window at all hours!

Oh, and while Eric was good for some goofy laughs on BMW, it seemed a bit alarming that he'd have become a virtually mindless derelict who wandered into this random village to become its idiot mayor then somehow became Senator. OK, I liked that they had the  determined and shrewd blogger T.J. who did the nitty gritty work to uncover the previous senator's misdeeds turn out to have been this orphan kid Tommy  that Eric had befriended but ultimately decided for Tommy's own good not to have adopted and that whole reunion blew me away despite myself. But it seemed that only   rarely Eric was allowed to behave as a person who could actually function in the outside world  with   almost Delphic flashes of insight and intelligence but normally he seemed like he belonged in a supervised group home (which seemed an unspoken fail for Alan and Amy   BMW's model, supportive and diligent parents who one would have thought would have at least tried to get their eldest son into a supervised group home rather than evidently have just had let him wander aimlessly for over a dozen years while they were nearing retirement age). 

His youngest brother Joshua wound up being eye candy for Maya and the cool uncle to his young nephew Auggie which was good (especially the latter) but very little about his other interests or life besides going to college was mentioned but at least he seemed a functional adult.

  Oddly, they NEVER said what had happened with Morgan whatsoever including her current residence. Even her duo cameo on the last show just was a gag about how she'd been played by two performers (and, yes, seemed as though she was a functional adult)  but not a word about what kind of aunt she was to her elder brother's kids, what kind of grown sister/sister-in-law she was to Cory and Topanga- much less whether she had any kind of career, job or had ever had any kind of romantic interest. 

 Yes, I watched it to see snatches of 'the show-that-might-have-been' and for those BMW cameos (  truly Shawn, Minkus and Mr. Feeny especially should have been regular cast members)  and yes, Sabrina Campbell , Corey Fogelmanis and Cecilia Balagot definitely did outstanding jobs with the subpar material they were given (and I know that the ratings were actually very good even in the last season) and I think those three have great potential for successful careers as adult performers but I definitely don't believe this show lived up to its potential. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Blergh

[festivus]

The Following. It had Kevin Bacon and Annie Parisse in it ffs. Terrible show.

[topanga]

32 minutes ago, festivus said:

The Following. It had Kevin Bacon and Annie Parisse in it ffs. Terrible show.

I stuck with that show for about a season and a half--I might've made it to the end of season 2, although I couldn't tell you anything about the finale if you paid me. I wanted to like it. It had Kevin friggin Bacon for Christ sake! But yeah, the show was terrible. 

[festivus]

I only made it one season and I was like O_o. That was enough.

[Stats Queen]

On 4/16/2020 at 3:57 PM, festivus said:

The Following. It had Kevin Bacon and Annie Parisse in it ffs. Terrible show.

It was just awful

Edited April 20, 2020 by Stats Queen
Was trying to say the show a was awful not me (amazing what a missing letter will do)

[Guest]

15 hours ago, festivus said:

The Following. It had Kevin Bacon and Annie Parisse in it ffs. Terrible show.

The show had an interesting premise but it went from zero-to-shitfest quick. It really was laughably terrible. I suffered through the first season, one episode of the second, and watched the finale.

[supposebly]

17 hours ago, festivus said:

The Following. It had Kevin Bacon and Annie Parisse in it ffs. Terrible show.

I know! I was so excited to have James Purefoy and Kevin Bacon on my screen for an extended time. Their combined sex appeal made me last about 10 episodes past of what I actually found acceptable TV. I managed to the end of season 1.  Just awful!

[Avabelle]

The Secret Circle - it was coming out on the back of the Vampire Diaries. It should have been a hit but the show bombed. Some of the reasons listed below:

Lazy writing - the writers followed the exact same formula for the first seven episodes that they had for Vampire Diaries. To the point where they “shockingly” killed a main character in the seventh episode. The shocking death of whatshisface was not so shocking and paled in comparison to that of Vicky Donovan.

Weak Male Casting - none of the male leads were neither memorable characters or strong actors. The main guy I actually got really strong gay vibes from and couldn’t take it seriously that he would be torn between two of the female characters. There was no chemistry between any of the couples.

Terrible Mary Sue Lead - Cassie was the WORST. Brit Robertson is a bit of a showkiller but I don’t know if anyone could have played the character to justice with that writing. She was awful. Such a Mary Sue. Was a special snowflake, had all the pwers. The boys were in love with her. Every storyline had to become about her despite her being unlikeable. 

[methodwriter85]

If you're an angsty teen romantic supernatural drama and the leads have no chemistry, you're dead in the water. It just can't work. Say what you will about Twilight or the Vampire Diaries, but the main couples had chemistry out of he wazoo. 

[Hiyo]

Quote

Brit Robertson

How can someone so awful keep getting cast in so many projects, I'll never understand.

 

[Avabelle]

And not only that but she’s the same whiny self righteous pain in the ass in every show. It could be her default acting style.

[VCRTracking]

Boardwalk Empire. Whatever problems with Michael Pitt behind the scenes led them to kill off his character at the end of season 2 and the show just never recovered for me.

[methodwriter85]

On 4/16/2020 at 12:15 PM, Blergh said:

Yes, I watched it to see snatches of 'the show-that-might-have-been' and for those BMW cameos (  truly Shawn, Minkus and Mr. Feeny especially should have been regular cast members)  and yes, Sabrina Campbell , Corey Fogelmanis and Cecilia Balagot definitely did outstanding jobs with the subpar material they were given (and I know that the ratings were actually very good even in the last season) and I think those three have great potential for successful careers as adult performers but I definitely don't believe this show lived up to its potential. 

I watched most of the series. I think my problem with the show is that it tried too hard to be poignant without really earning the emotional stakes they were trying to sell. When it didn't do that and just let the characters breathe, it could be really good. I thought they had a really good balance of this for most of season 2 but it felt like they reversed this by the end of that season going into 3.

Another problem is that I just don't think Jacobs understood how to write a show for modern Disney Channel. I personally thought he should have studied shows like Good Luck Charlie to get an understanding of how to make a funny show within the confines of what Disney allows.

[Blergh]

On 9/27/2020 at 9:42 AM, methodwriter85 said:

I watched most of the series. I think my problem with the show is that it tried too hard to be poignant without really earning the emotional stakes they were trying to sell. When it didn't do that and just let the characters breathe, it could be really good. I thought they had a really good balance of this for most of season 2 but it felt like they reversed this by the end of that season going into 3.

Another problem is that I just don't think Jacobs understood how to write a show for modern Disney Channel. I personally thought he should have studied shows like Good Luck Charlie to get an understanding of how to make a funny show within the confines of what Disney allows.

Of course, it didn't help that the main character Riley was rather annoying yet all the regulars on the show treated her as though she could do no wrong. . Also, they had Topanga barely tolerate Cory instead of showing any evidence she had any actual remaining affection for him.They made Shawn into more of a trainwreck for cheap laughs than he had been as a teen- AND whatever progress,self-confidence and maturity he had made at the end of BMW got erased. 

Worse, they treated Mr. Feeny like crud having his first appearance be after Cory,Topanga and Shawn needlessly tresspassed and vandalized his garden- and then, in addition to participating in the adults' actions, Riley and Maya snottily taunted him with a lame Feeny call having made no attempt to introduce themselves much less apologize for the damage (and none of the so-called adults attempted  to stop that or call out the teens   on their needless rudeness towards their onetime mentor whom they'd sung great praises of during BMW). And none of them attempted an apology for the vandalism!  Yeah, they were better when they had Mr. Feeny marry Shawn and Katy but even then he got 'treated' to another snotty Feeny call by the teens (instead of a 'thank you' by ANY of them) and left alone on the rooftop while everyone else partied at the reception in Cory&Topanga's apartment. For his last appearance during the last show, he and  Eric wound having had an unexplained and dumb feud that no one attempted to resolve.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Blergh

[RealHousewife]

The OC. I wish it could have lasted many seasons like 90210 did. 

[methodwriter85]

On 2/17/2021 at 5:22 AM, RealHousewife said:

The OC. I wish it could have lasted many seasons like 90210 did. 

Josh Schwartz sped way too fast through plots and the show just burned itself out. It lasted four years but you felt like you'd had watched 8. I thought unlike many teen shows they had handled the transition out of high school well but the ratings had tanked hard and they had enough episodes for syndication, so cancelled. It's a shame because I really liked the 4th season. 

[Sarahsmile416]

Weeds and Good Girls - Both started with such a refreshing ideas and in terms of the latter, just a charming cast - but both went off the rails by the time the third seasons rolled around that I couldn’t even stick with them past the midway point.  

[Stats Queen]

On 4/25/2022 at 1:41 PM, Sarahsmile416 said:

Weeds and Good Girls - Both started with such a refreshing ideas and in terms of the latter, just a charming cast - but both went off the rails by the time the third seasons rolled around that I couldn’t even stick with them past the midway point.  

I totally agree. Especially Good Girls. I got my husband to watch with me (he doesn’t watch much TV) and we gave up last year, it turned so, so , so dark. I tried to watch the current season by myself but I couldn’t get through the first episode.

[Sarahsmile416]

1 hour ago, Stats Queen said:

I totally agree. Especially Good Girls. I got my husband to watch with me (he doesn’t watch much TV) and we gave up last year, it turned so, so , so dark. I tried to watch the current season by myself but I couldn’t get through the first episode.

Same…except I had given up on Good Girls before my husband could start watching it with me.  He watched Weeds with me and couldn’t make it past the mid point of the second season…by the third season I was out too.   

The thing that gets me is that neither show needed to take the darker turns they took - especially Good Girls.  Yes, it’s a black comedy, which I like, but some of the decisions pushed them to a point of no return 

[juno]

I though Go On was a great show that should have been renewed. Great chemistry on the show and Matthew Perry was terrific.

[Sarahsmile416]

10 minutes ago, juno said:

I though Go On was a great show that should have been renewed. Great chemistry on the show and Matthew Perry was terrific.

I loved Go On - so many good people in that cast - just a nice, sweet, show.  I wish it had been on longer 

[Avabelle]

Dynasty reboot - a great idea gone wrong due to a terrible showrunner that was just trying to get her own show with original characters and used the reboot to do it.

Good Sam - another potential good show with a good cast spoiled by terrible terrible writing. 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Avabelle

[Kel Varnsen]

On 4/25/2022 at 1:41 PM, Sarahsmile416 said:

Weeds and Good Girls - Both started with such a refreshing ideas and in terms of the latter, just a charming cast - but both went off the rails by the time the third seasons rolled around that I couldn’t even stick with them past the midway point.  

Yea Good Girls was weird. Such a solid cast, and a pretty decent premise. But the writing of the episodes was so stupid sometimes you had no idea why the characters were doing what they were doing. Our PVR stopped recording the last few episodes of the final season and my wife and I never bothered watching them on Netflix.

[juno]

@midnight was such a great show. Made me laugh every day. I thought Chris Hardwick was great as a host and they got some great guests. Everything about the show was great.

After 3 years Hardwick, in my opionion, wrecked the show. A few times a week there would be a humorless political rant or unfunny political skit. This made portions of the show unwatchable and after a while the show was cancelled/agreed to end.

Whether it had to do with the constant rants or bizarre skits, a great show ended well before it should have.

[MaryMitch]

"B Positive" - it had so much talent in the cast! The first season had promise, but after the successful kidney transplant they went in a totally different direction and it got pretty awful.