Worst TV show you've seen?

[Benji]

Sod off. That's just like saying "Why can't we have a day at CTU where there's no terrorist threat, Jack Bauer finishes early and goes to watch the Lion King stage show".

I'm all for drama, but I can't stand that THE WORST OF THE WORST~ always happens at Christmas, I'd love to just see a hilariously comedic episode on Christmas day, not want to slit my wrists in the terribleness of it. When soaps do it right they do it insanely right, but when they get to Christmas they become the most morbid pile of crap around.

[Guest Spongebob Weinstein]

"Kelsey Grammer presents the news" was Back To You, which was also pretty bad.

[Dynamite]

Danielle's death on Christmas Day was one of the most depressing things I have seen on TV but it was still far from the worst thing I've ever watched and was better than the rubbish that's been going on in the past few months. If anything, Eastenders gets better towards Christmas time than it is the rest of the year. The cliffhangers at Christmas also gets people talking about the show a lot more than a throwaway comedy special would and I guess Danielle's death probably bumped up their ratings for the next episode as people wanted to see what happened next.

[NobBe Nobbs]

My Super Sweet 16... if a television show could contribute to the downfall of civilization, this would be it.

Holla. That and Keeping Up With The Kardashians are my choices that people aren't going to disagree on. Two Pints was pretty awful and everything but the first couple of episodes of Little Britain was absolute shit as well (HUR HUR HE CAN WALK REALLY HUR HUR...they should be given prizes for hammering a joke into the fucking ground). There was another one I had in mind but it's gone now.

[Lowerdeck]

I never even included any of that "reality" shit for worst for a reason. Considering a lot of it is trashy and bad. Especially the more popular it is.

I just remembered Tom Goes to the Mayor also. I gave up on that after five minutes.

[GA!]

The Mighty Boosh. It's obvious that the two don't care about comedy, which is why they improvise instead of actually writing jokes, giving surrealist comedy a bad name in the process. They're all about the NME-bollock teasing musical numbers towards the end.

[YI]

Sod off. That's just like saying "Why can't we have a day at CTU where there's no terrorist threat, Jack Bauer finishes early and goes to watch the Lion King stage show".

I'm all for drama, but I can't stand that THE WORST OF THE WORST~ always happens at Christmas, I'd love to just see a hilariously comedic episode on Christmas day, not want to slit my wrists in the terribleness of it. When soaps do it right they do it insanely right, but when they get to Christmas they become the most morbid pile of crap around.

Belle Dingle being born in a pigsty was pretty epic. But that was YEARS ago now.

[Lint]

I never even included any of that "reality" shit for worst for a reason. Considering a lot of it is trashy and bad. Especially the more popular it is.

I just remembered Tom Goes to the Mayor also. I gave up on that after five minutes.

To follow up on Tom Goes to the Mayor..I'll add Tim & Eric Awesome Show. Everyone I know who watches the show loves it...my friend had me watch 3 episodes with him once and I didn't even cracka smile the whole time. Had to be the dumbest show I've ever seen

[ROC]

I never even included any of that "reality" shit for worst for a reason. Considering a lot of it is trashy and bad. Especially the more popular it is.

I just remembered Tom Goes to the Mayor also. I gave up on that after five minutes.

To follow up on Tom Goes to the Mayor..I'll add Tim & Eric Awesome Show. Everyone I know who watches the show loves it...my friend had me watch 3 episodes with him once and I didn't even cracka smile the whole time. Had to be the dumbest show I've ever seen

Most of Adult Swim, excluding say Boondocks and a few shows I can't think of (supposedly Squidbillies is a good sendup of rural culture), is so so dire. I'm glad that a group of people on television have balls and are like "British shows FTW" (they are playing Mighty Boosh and the original Office), but at the same time you have to call a spade a spade. And there's some dire programming on there.

[Liam]

Not necessarily defending The Mighty Boosh, but if ever there was a TV programme that I feel would have no chance of being well recieved in the US, that would be it.

[GA!]

Not necessarily defending The Mighty Boosh, but if ever there was a TV programme that I feel would have no chance of being well recieved in the US, that would be it.

In what way? I don't think its absurdity is an excuse as Monty Python was very well received over there.

[ROC]

Not necessarily defending The Mighty Boosh, but if ever there was a TV programme that I feel would have no chance of being well recieved in the US, that would be it.

Well, it still has its cult fanbase over here regardless. There are those that appreciate the Old Greg gag a LOT. (I think it's Old Greg, I haven't watched an episode and I'm going off what I hear from friends.) And I probably should check it out myself. You Brits!

[Liam]

Not necessarily defending The Mighty Boosh, but if ever there was a TV programme that I feel would have no chance of being well recieved in the US, that would be it.

In what way? I don't think its absurdity is an excuse as Monty Python was very well received over there.

It just seems very English, thats all. I'm surprised that it is broadcast over there at all, in some respects.

And Monty Python was absurd in nature, but the comedy writing was higher, and probably held greater overall appeal. The Mighty Boosh just seems slightly niche.

[9 to 5]

I am so glad that I am finally not alone in my hate of the Mighty Boosh.

[GA!]

Not necessarily defending The Mighty Boosh, but if ever there was a TV programme that I feel would have no chance of being well recieved in the US, that would be it.

In what way? I don't think its absurdity is an excuse as Monty Python was very well received over there.

It just seems very English, thats all. I'm surprised that it is broadcast over there at all, in some respects.

And Monty Python was absurd in nature, but the comedy writing was higher, and probably held greater overall appeal. The Mighty Boosh just seems slightly niche.

Agreed on everything.

Before I forget, I'd like to point out how this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLXMxU-FC1E, which ripped off The Mighty Boosh, is actually funnier than The Mighty Boosh itself. And I hate that advert!

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Ugh Old Greg. The amount of awful "impressions" I had to put up with was depressing.

[Hobo]

Prepare for Hobo rants about how shit Irish TV is:

You have not seen bad TV until you have watched anything produced by the comedy department of RTE save maybe one or two shows. Such as ROC's favorite show Killinaskully (essentially LOL ISN'T RURAL IRELAND A FUNNY PLACE AND LOOK A GERMAN GUY HAHA GERMANS ARE FUNNY TOO!) or The Byrne Ultimatium (Jason Byrne does Shooting Stars but isn't anywhere near able to match Vic and Bob). The Podge and Rodge Show/whatever their new vehicle is, essentially foul mouthed puppets making bawdy jokes as they interview people or host a quiz. Katherine Lynch's Wonder Women (Catherine Tate Show knock off, and that was a bad show to start with). Generally the UK gets all the funny Irish people and we're left with the ones that aren't that funny to make bad shows/knock off already existing shows with which only serves to highlight how bad they are because we get the shows they're knocking off the English channels anyway!

If you think English soaps are bad, try Fair City which is basically Coronation Street with worse writing and acting.

Little Britain beyond probably the first series is abysmal. I don't necessarily agree The Mighty Boosh is that bad, although I could never stand The Office personally. I generally dislike any shows that have seemingly captured the worlds imagination in the last few years.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

First series of Little Britain was great but then they got rid of the best two sketches (the hotelier with the whistle and Kelsey Grammar School) and chucked in loads of rubbish.

[Skummy]

It's obvious that the two don't care about comedy, which is why they improvise instead of actually writing jokes

....really? For a start, very little of the Boosh is "properly" improv - and more importantly, since when did improvising outweigh writing? Surely being able to be spontaneously funny is of as much worth as, if not more than, writing jokes? By that token Peter Cook and Armando Iannucci - arguably the greatest satirists Britain produced in the 20th century - "don't care about comedy", because they encourage improvisation. In fact, Peter Cook was usually mediocre in a scripted situation, despite being one of the funniest men to have ever lived.

The Mighty Boosh is an interesting one - I quite liked the first series, the second had its moments, and the third was largely dreadful, but they all pale in comparison to the radio series, which was often genuinely laugh-out-loud funny - it really embraced radio as a medium, and managed to be much more convincingly surreal and abstract than they ever were on telly, and also allowed them to play up to the more conventional double-act side of their schtick - and their one-off Radio 1 special "Boosh On The Breezeblock" is one of the most utterly bizarre comedy programs to have ever been broadcast.

I think the problem with the Mighty Boosh is the much-maligned teenage girl fandom of Noel Fielding. He's an alright comedian (but not a very good actor), though his style is very formulaic and often falls into the post-Harry Hill format of "woodland creatures doing people things, that's funny!", and Julian Barratt is a great comic actor (as evidenced in Nathan Barley), but a rubbish comedian.

I'll let The Mighty Boosh off almost all criticism, though, based purely on the strength of the radio show and on the fact that it introduced the world at large to the magic of Rich Fulcher.

As for worst TV show I've ever seen? Far, far too many to choose from. I can't stand most of what's on telly, and I'm trying to think of something so utterly bad as to have offended me, or that was horrifically unfunny, or just a massive missed opportunity, but all I can think is Homes Under The Hammer and that smug cunt's face begging for a smack.

Can't stand The Office, either.

Edited October 29, 2009 by Skummy

[Dynamite]

That new show on Channel 5 with Ian Wright, Melinda Messenger and the woman off The Apprentice is the definition of 'shit TV'.