Not every show deserves a second chance. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the worst TV shows that inexplicably got more seasons than “Firefly,” “Freaks and Geeks,” and “My So-Called Life,” i.e. more than one.
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00:00 "You're popular now! You saved the life of every girl here!"
00:03 "I guess. Still, it just feels weird."
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the worst TV shows that inexplicably got more
00:11 seasons than Firefly, Freaks and Geeks, and My So-Called Life, i.e. more than one.
00:16 Live-action, animated, and reality shows are all fair game.
00:20 "This is the one place I felt safe in, and I don't know how long."
00:24 Number 10. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo
00:28 Just when you thought reality TV had reached the lowest common denominator with toddlers and
00:33 tiaras, this spinoff unearthed a denominator that shouldn't have been mathematically possible.
00:38 "Alana does get upset when she loses."
00:40 "I feel sad."
00:43 Of course, the only number that mattered to TLC was the ratings,
00:46 with the first season averaging more than 2 million viewers. The exploits of Alana,
00:51 Mama June, and the rest of the Shannon clan garnered not two, not three, but four seasons.
00:56 "Move out my way!"
00:58 A fifth was ready to go until June was linked to convicted predators. While a few lost episodes
01:06 later aired as a special, the scandal spelled the show's end. A decade after its overdue cancellation,
01:12 Alana is pursuing a nursing degree, while Honey Boo Boo is remembered as a "what were we thinking"
01:17 moment.
01:18 "I'm really concerned that, you know, she's gonna be hard-headed and not come back."
01:22 Number 9. Fuller House
01:24 '90s kids can't help but have a soft spot for Full House, forced laugh tracks and all. He was
01:29 an enjoyable product of the time, which is more than can be said about the sequel series.
01:34 "Surprise!"
01:34 Fuller House is devious in how blatantly it wants to bank on our nostalgia,
01:44 recreating moments with side-by-side comparisons. It's hard to explain, but where Full House felt
01:49 organic in its corniness, Fuller House feels more artificially cringey, as if the writers
01:54 went out of their way to sound inane.
01:56 "I'm Grandpa Danny. And you're… you're… I'm gonna need a name."
02:03 "I know, I know, we're working on it."
02:07 Had it taken a self-aware approach like the Brady Bunch movie, maybe we'd have a show worthy of
02:13 five seasons? Really? Instead, we got a house full of something. And by "something," we mean
02:20 another word starting with "s."
02:21 "Okay, now everybody go before I get emotional."
02:23 Number 8. Baywatch Nights
02:27 We all know that Mitch Buchanan was a lifeguard by day. But did you know that for a hot second
02:31 during the '90s, he also worked as a detective by night? Seriously, when did this guy ever find
02:36 the time to sleep?
02:37 "You know, some people think the beach closes after the sun goes down.
02:41 Uh-uh. That's when it really starts to heat up."
02:44 Mitch's presence is just one reason Baywatch Nights was an ill-conceived idea.
02:48 With the ratings sinking by the end of the first season,
02:51 canceling the series would have been the logical next step. However, the producers came up with a
02:56 surefire way to turn the show around in season two - rip off the X-Files, forcing the characters
03:02 into stories involving time travel, vampires, mummies, aliens, and demonic possession.
03:08 [Screaming]
03:15 We might as well call the SpongeBob movie canon because it's not nearly as silly as this.
03:20 "Who are you?"
03:21 "I'm David Hasselhoff."
03:23 "Hooray!"
03:25 Number 7. Iron Fist
03:27 How did Netflix and Marvel go from the highs of Daredevil to the rock bottom of Iron Fist
03:32 in just two years?
03:33 "How did you get in here?"
03:34 "This was always my second home."
03:37 More imperatively to this list, how did such a universally despised show get a second season?
03:43 Although panned out of the gate for Finn Jones' portrayal of Danny Rand,
03:47 underwhelming action and generally bad storytelling, the first season was technically
03:51 a success in terms of streaming numbers. Audiences were committed on the heels of three hit shows,
03:57 but Iron Fist quickly started to feel like homework.
04:00 "Because lifting other people's furniture is a crucial learning experience."
04:03 "I enjoy it. It's a hard day's work."
04:06 While season two was seen as a marginal improvement, it received less fanfare.
04:11 Netflix spared us from a third season, although this can likely be attributed to the streamer's
04:16 crumbling relationship with Disney rather than quality.
04:19 "Don't try that again."
04:20 Number 6. Emily in Paris
04:24 Look, we get why Emily in Paris was a hit during the pandemic. We couldn't travel,
04:28 so it makes sense why Netflix subscribers would be drawn to a show where an attractive woman
04:32 explores Paris, eats delicious-looking food, wears a new designer outfit in every scene,
04:38 spends all day on Instagram without doing any real work,
04:41 and whose biggest issue is choosing between a hot French guy and another hot French guy.
04:46 "Are you hungry? Would you like to have a coffee or…"
04:49 "Oh, actually I have to get to my office."
04:51 Tuning into season two, more people realized that while they enjoy living vicariously through
04:57 Emily, the show isn't very good and is kind of problematic, and not at all reflective of life
05:03 in France. "Gabrielle, it was a night that I will never forget, okay? But it was a mistake."
05:08 By the time this epiphany struck, Netflix was already ordering a third and fourth season.
05:14 What have we done? "Oh my God."
05:16 Number 5. Baby Bob
05:22 Remember Look Who's Talking, the movie with the inner monologuing baby? Well,
05:26 CBS decided to bank on that film's popularity. Thirteen years later, instead of Bruce Willis,
05:32 Baby Bob was voiced by Ken Hudson-Campbell, aka the Santa from Home Alone.
05:37 "Mommy, don't be silly. Cows don't talk, they just move."
05:40 Despite the presence of other talented actors, the show was about as idiotic as you would expect.
05:47 Plus, where Look Who's Talking had the good sense to keep the baby talk internal,
05:51 the little tyke's lips move here, and it's creepy. "Hi, Grandma. Oh, oh my God."
05:58 Bizarrely, this mid-season replacement attracted respectable numbers,
06:02 resulting in a second season order. The episode number was thankfully reduced as CBS shifted
06:07 priorities to My Big Fat Greek Life, which finally had an even shorter run than Baby Bob,
06:12 who lived on through Quiznos commercials. "I'm telling you, when my molars grow in,
06:18 I'm all over this one."
06:20 Number 4. Insatiable
06:22 Netflix has produced some abysmal shows, but Insatiable reached new levels of hate before
06:28 even releasing. The concept alone was deemed offensive to overweight people,
06:32 sparking a Change.org petition to axe the series. "Broken jaw, liquid diet. She must have lost 70
06:40 pounds." Reviews weren't much better, leaving some to wonder if a TV equivalent to the Razzie
06:46 should be created just to honor Insatiable. So naturally, Netflix ordered another season
06:51 one month later thanks to high viewership. "Patti, this is insane." "I thought you said
06:55 you had my back." Maybe people wanted to see if it lived up to the horrible hype. Perhaps some
07:00 viewers legitimately liked it, the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes being more forgiving than the
07:05 critical score. In any case, season two wasn't met with as much buzz, prompting Netflix to do
07:11 what they should have done from the get-go - 86 it. "Nothing tastes as good as killing feels."
07:17 Number 3. Triangle
07:19 It's debatable where hate-watching originated, but this BBC soap opera may be among the earlier
07:24 examples, arguably helping it stay on the air for three seasons consisting of 78 episodes.
07:30 "Well, I'm sorry, I don't agree. I think it would have been better if I hadn't told her."
07:34 Conversations that should be over in a few seconds prattle on for several minutes.
07:38 Once they're finally over, you're left wondering if anything was resolved and what the characters
07:43 were talking about to begin with. It didn't help that the actors delivered these lines with the
07:48 levels of investment you'd find at a table read. "Good. You're acting on it? Very good."
07:55 Unlike The Love Boat, Triangle couldn't even deliver glamorous eye candy,
07:59 with amateurish cinematography and some of the dreariest locales on the open sea.
08:04 Triangle was fascinatingly awful, being featured on BBC's TV Hell lineup
08:09 almost a decade after its cancellation. "That's what I'll still see of them."
08:13 Number 2. Velma
08:15 Velma is another show that benefited from hate-watching, generating enough attention
08:19 for Max to move forward with a renewal. "You know what? We're done here. Peace."
08:23 "Unfortunately, we're not done here, Velma." And yet, Warner Bros. Discovery decided to
08:30 scrap the virtually finished feature Scoob Holiday Haunt for a tax write-down.
08:34 This company's business practices are the real mystery, but don't count on this incarnation
08:39 of Velma to solve it. "Norville, I owe you a huge apology, but it'll have to wait."
08:44 The sad thing is that a TVMA take on Scooby-Doo had comedic potential and the idea has been well
08:49 executed in other shows. Whereas those satires had genuine affection for the source material,
08:54 though, you get the sense that the people behind Velma have no respect for Scooby-Doo
08:59 and wanted to punish viewers for ever liking this franchise. We wouldn't watch a third season for
09:04 all the Scooby snacks. "Maybe now guys will realize that where there's smoke, there's always fire."
09:09 "Maybe." Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
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09:24 Number 1. The Swan
09:28 "I feel beautiful now."
09:31 Making a show about giving people extreme makeovers is already shallow enough,
09:36 but to have them undergo life-changing plastic surgery? We're not sure what's scarier,
09:41 that a show like The Swan could get the green light as recently as 20 years ago,
09:45 or that Fox actually brought it back for a second season.
09:48 "Has your dream come true?"
09:49 Granted, the series in its entirety only lasted 18 episodes, with both seasons airing over an
09:55 eight-month window. Even by trash TV standards, though, the fact that this made it past the pilot
10:00 was morally wrong. We're not convinced Fox learned their lesson, as a "Celebrity Swan" special was
10:06 announced in 2013, yet did not move forward. We cannot imagine why. What's the most insufferable
10:14 TV show you've ever seen that somehow made it beyond its first season? Let us know in the
10:18 comments. "The scariest thing in the world would be if they gave Sinbad another TV show."
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10:33 [outro music]