2017 is the worst fall TV season in recent memory

Vox ^ | September 11, 2017 | Todd VanDerWerff

[EdnaMode]

This is the worst fall for new TV shows in the decade I’ve been a professional TV critic. And it’s hard to find one much worse in all the years I’ve been cognizant of “new fall TV” as a concept, since the late ’80s.

The comedies didn’t make me laugh. The dramas made me roll my eyes. Even with the boom in platforms making new TV, there’s but one show I’d recommend wholeheartedly and a smattering of others that made me say, “There could be something there if they work out the kinks.” The vast, vast majority of the new shows — whether on broadcast or cable or streaming — are just plain bad.

Now, to be sure, there are some heavily anticipated shows I have yet to see. Star Trek: Discovery, for instance, hasn’t sent out screeners to critics. (That CBS All Access is playing so coy with the show isn’t a great sign, but with a major project like this, it’s entirely possible the post-production process is taking longer than usual.) But I’ve still seen the vast majority of new series — and they’re bad.

So when people ask me what new shows they should watch, it takes but a few seconds to say, “Hey, The Deuce is good!” But if they’re not fans of David Simon or James Franco, or if they don’t have HBO, well … ABC’s The Mayor is pretty charming. Fox’s Ghosted has a good enough cast that I guess it should pull itself together eventually. CBS’s S.W.A.T. is certainly ambitious for a remake of an old TV show, even if it’s not all there yet…

[Grampa Dave]

We cut the cable in June of this. We went to Sling to be able to get CBS via Sling, the SF Giants and more for local ABC to enable my wife to watch the morning Kelly Show with ??

We are thinking of cancelling Sling because of the crap that is on it and coming up this fall, the Giants are going no place, we don’t watch the NFL, we don’t watch any net or local news nor weather. My wife stopped watching Kelly as all she has is Follyweird and Broadway guests and CNN flakes like Anderson Cooper.

We use Amazon prime, the CBS with every show ever shown, Acorn via Prime, and an enriched PBS with a $5 donation per month.

So, we are enjoying putting the financial $crews to ABCNNBCBS and Faux News by cutting our Comcast cable.

Plus we are saving about $125/ month and will soon have the total bill down to a little over $100 per month.

[morphing libertarian]

Not too many laughs more like an occasional smile.

[dfwgator]

“Fall of Eagles” with Jean Luc Picard playing Lenin,

To this day, whenever I see Patrick Stewart, I think of him as Lenin.

[Defiant]

The writing on that show was awful, but the writing on Two Broke Girls is infinitely worse.

[morphing libertarian]

Deep Space 9 had a black commander.

[AlaskaErik]

I don’t watch any of it. It’s been years since I followed any show on any network. I don’t miss it one bit.

[NorthMountain]

Three’s Company was an atrocity ... but never fear: they have only begun to be atrocious. Atrocity is a bottomless pit.

[Defiant]

Amazing to think that Lenny went on to be Saul Goodman’s brother. He is a great actor.

[Dr. Sivana]

Three’s Company came out in 1977. Nothing could be worse than that.

There were a couple of shows at least as bad starring old Happy Days cast members. "Mr T and Tina" starring Pat Morita as an inventor. "The Ugily Family" starring Al Molinaro as patriarch of an ugly family. Honarable mention goes to "Baby I'm Back" with Demond Wilson showing he had no acting talent and was carried by Redd Foxx and LaWanda Page in Sanford and Son. Oh, and "Mason", about a wiseacre dwarfish eightyear old who commwnts on his parent's tush within the first minute of the first episode. "Three's Company" differed as it was a success, and had some great actors (Ritter, Knotts).

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

We are watching less and less TV these days.

When I do watch it is usually something old like "Scrubs" which was actually funny or a "how to...." ranging from cooking to building a house.

[wbill]

Yep. We tend to remember the great shows, but it's important to remember that 90% or more of what's ever been on TV was complete dreck.

I grew up on "NBC must see TV Thursday nights". Great comedies like Night Court and Cheers. Can't tell you what else was on NBC in the 80's, but I'm certain that it wasn't the same caliber.

[morphing libertarian]

I ike the mysteries on Masterpiece Mystery on PBS, yes, PBS. All british productions and police procedurals but the lead detectives all different and keep me interested.

[DuncanWaring]

“Will and Grace” was far worse.

[morphing libertarian]

I think The Killing is streamed on Amazon prime.

[Dr. Sivana]

Ever listened to Lenny and the Squigtones? It’s bizarre and my favorite comfy album ever

My wife doesn't usually go for that stuff, but "Starcrossed" had her laughing pretty hard.

[Defiant]

Waiting anxiously for Season 3. I love that they don’t dumb down the computer tech (or if they do, they do it to my level). It means my wife doesn’t like it, so I get to watch it alone.

[morphing libertarian]

to do thigh master commercials, still watchable, lol

[OttawaFreeper]

Then there was the immortal Happy Days spinoff “Blansky’s Beauties” with Caren Kaye, Pat Morita (as Arnold), Scott Baio, and Nancy Walker (playing a cousin of Howard Cunningham’s).

[SamAdams76]

If they would ever stream COPS, that would be a goldmine. Over 1,000 episodes in the can. Never get tired of that show. But due to cutting the cable, I haven't seen it in a few years. Wish it would stream on Amazon Prime or Netflix.

When my kids were little, they used to call it the "didn't do nuttin" show!

Anyway, even if no more good TV shows were ever produced, I think there's enough decent content to stream for a lifetime. I'm just now getting into "THE WIRE" on Amazon Prime.

[dfwgator]

Sometimes I just leave it on when they have a “How It’s Made” marathon.